Legend of Willowa Lake
by hbndgirl
Summary: The waters of Willowa Lake hold a deadly secret. Rumors of a lake monster circulate when the small town is cut off by a washed out bridge. When Frank, Joe, and Tony become stranded on its shores, their very survival hinges on learning the truth about the monster and the strange events surrounding the lake. Complete.
1. Willowa Lake

Chapter I: Willowa Lake

"I think it went really well, all in all," Tony Prito said, sitting in one of the passenger seats in the Hardy plane. "Maybe I've got a shot for that scholarship after all."

"You better," Joe Hardy teased him. "You can use some of the money you save to pay us back for flying you all the way to Seattle."

When Tony Prito had been offered to compete for a scholarship at a West Coast college that he hoped to attend, he had been ecstatic. The only problem was that he had to come for an interview within a week of hearing about his good fortune. He hadn't been able to book a flight with that short of notice. That's when Frank and Joe Hardy had stepped in.

Frank and Joe had been some of Tony's best friends since kindergarten. Their dad, Fenton Hardy, was a private detective and he had to leave home at a moment's notice so often that he had eventually decided to buy a small plane. Naturally, Frank and Joe had been eager to get their pilot's licenses and learn to fly it as soon as they were old enough. When Tony had asked them to fly him to Seattle, they had willingly agreed. With the interview completed, they were now on their way back home.

"Where are we flying over, anyway?" Tony asked, leaning over to look out the window. Beneath them, all he could see were mountains.

"We've still got a long way to go," Frank told him. "I think we're only over Idaho."

Just then, there was a loud thunk from one of the engines.

"Is that normal?" Tony asked, trying not to sound worried.

"It doesn't sound good," Joe replied. "You'd better take her down a little, Frank."

Frank nodded. "No good being this far up if the engine has problems."

"Um, what does that noise mean?" Tony asked.

Frank and Joe looked at each other, not wanting to raise any false alarms.

"It could mean a number of things," Frank told him. "Most of them aren't even anything to worry about. There's just no point in taking risks."

The thunk wasn't repeated, and so all three boys began to relax. Frank tried to take the plane higher again, but it didn't respond.

"What's wrong now?" he muttered, realizing that it was a very serious problem if the plane didn't respond to the controls.

"Hey, what's going on?" Joe asked, noticing that all the indicators – the altimeter, the artificial horizon, the GPS, even the compass – all began blinking and rapidly changing their readings in ways that couldn't possibly be correct.

"I don't know," Frank said. "I think we're losing altitude."

"What's wrong?" Tony asked.

"I don't know," Frank replied. "Joe, radio to find out if there's an airfield nearby. Did you see our position before everything went out?"

"Yeah," Joe said. He grabbed the radio and tried to send a mayday message. After several tries, he gave up. "It's no use. The radio's gone, too."

Frank decreased the speed of the plane, and it fortunately responded to that. By now, they were flying low over a wooded, mountainous area. Ahead of them, Frank could see what looked like a break in the trees. Desperately hoping that it would be a level, clear spot, he guided the plane toward it as well as he could, although it only sluggishly responded to the controls.

A few seconds later, they were over the clearing. Frank's heart sank when he saw that it was actually a large lake with a small town on its northern shore.

"Do you think you could land the plane in the water?" Joe asked. "Without all of us dying, of course."

"It's either there or in the trees," Frank replied. "Buckle up, everybody."

All three fastened their seatbelts and waited tensely as Frank turned the plane around to make a landing approach to the lake. It settled into the water with a jerk, and Frank cut the power.

"You did it!" Tony said. "We're still alive."

"For now," Frank told him, already unbuckling his own seatbelt. "This plane's not going to float for long and we don't want to be anywhere near it when it goes under."

"That's right," Joe agreed. "Even if we get off the plane before it sinks, if we're too close it could suck us under with it."

"Then let's go!" Tony said.

The boys opened the door to the plane and for a moment looked out over the lake. They weren't so very far from the shore with the town, and they could see a crowd of people looking at the downed plane.

"Hey! A little help!" Joe shouted as loudly as he could, waving his arms.

"It's no good," Frank told him. "Even if one of them has a boat handy, it would take too long to get all the way out here. We'd better start swimming."

They kicked their shoes off and started toward the shore, swimming at a fast crawlstroke. When they had covered about half the distance, the plane went under with a rush.

"Dad's not going to be happy about that," Joe commented, slowing down.

All three of them paused for a minute to get their breath after their furious race to escape the sinking plane. Now they noticed that someone in a canoe was paddling toward them.

"Thank goodness," Tony said, and all three of them began to swim to meet the canoe.

It was being paddled by a lone man of around forty, dressed all in black. When he reached the boys, he began helping them scramble into the canoe, which is never as easy a business as one might expect.

"Thanks," Frank said. "We didn't want to have to swim all the way to shore."

"I'm just glad I was nearby," the man replied. "I don't think you would have gotten any help from anyone else. I'm Father Mark Percy."

It was then that the boys noticed the clerical collar that he was wearing. They introduced themselves, and then offered to help paddle the rest of the way back to shore.

"Don't worry about it," Father Percy told them. "I only grabbed one paddle, anyway."

"Why do you say we probably wouldn't get help from anyone else?" Joe asked.

The priest sighed and shook his head. "It seems like everyone in town is too afraid to go out on the water. They're all convinced that the legend is true."

"What legend?" Frank asked.

"There's a legend that there's a monster that lives here in Willowa Lake," Father Percy told them. "A week ago, it was more of a joke than anything else. Now people are not only beginning to believe it, but to blame all the trouble we've been having on it."

Frank and Joe looked at each other. They were amateur detectives, and they never turned down the chance to solve a mystery. This was sounding like it just might be a fascinating one.

Tony laughed. "This might just be your lucky day, then. Frank and Joe's specialty is getting to the bottom of both trouble and spooky legends."

Father Percy gave a wry smile. "Personally, I don't think there's anything to it. If you boys want to look into it while you're here, you're welcome to. I have to warn you – you're going to be here for a few days at least."

"Why's that?" Joe asked.

"This area is surrounded on three sides by water, either the lake or one of the rivers nearby, and on the fourth side by complete wilderness," Father Percy explained. "There was a bad storm a few days ago and it washed out the only bridge leading here. The state's been working to fix it, but one thing after another keeps happening so that they can't. Someone around here got the bright idea that it's the lake monster and we're all cursed or something. The idea's really caught on."

"So you're entire town is stranded," Frank concluded.

"Can't you just use boats to cross the river?" Joe asked.

"We can," Father Percy admitted. "Trevor Beau tried to the first day, but the current was still so strong that his boat capsized. It seems like everyone is blaming it on the monster, though, and they're too scared to try again."

"But you're not," Joe pointed out. "Why don't you try to cross?"

The priest shrugged. "I don't really need to. If the state doesn't get anywhere in the next few days, I'll try it if no one else does. We're going to need supplies if this goes on too much longer."

Before the Hardys could ask any more questions, they reached the shore. Even if none of the people watching from there had been willing to come out on the lake itself, they all seemed friendly enough now. Several of them asked if the boys were all right and offered to help them in any way they needed.

"We're fine," Frank assured them. "Although we hear we're going to be stranded for a little while. We'll need a place to stay. Is there a hotel in town?"

"No, I'm afraid not," Father Percy told him. "You're welcome to stay with me, if you want."

"Thanks," Frank said. "If you're sure it's no trouble –"

"No trouble at all," the priest assured him.

Everyone in the crowd was looking at the boys with interest, but Joe noticed one man looking at them with particular intensity. When he saw Joe looking back at him, he gave a crooked smile.

"I guess all of us here in Willowa Lake aren't the only ones having bad luck," he commented. "What happened to you guys anyway?"

"It was weird," Joe replied. "All the controls in the plane went out. It was like those stories you hear about the Bermuda Triangle."

"Joe," Frank said. Frank realized that, if the people were already afraid of a supernatural threat, comparing the situation to the Bermuda Triangle was not going to help anything.

Joe realized his mistake a second later. "Of course," he hastened to say, "there's some logical explanation. The Bermuda Triangle is just a fairy tale."

"I would have agreed with you a few days ago," the man who had asked the question said. "There's been so much weird stuff happening, though, that maybe there's something to the Bermuda Triangle after all."

"What's been happening?" Tony asked.

"First the bridge got washed out and the same night all the phone lines went," the man explained. "That's a big problem here, since we don't have cell reception. I went out on my boat to try to get help, but it capsized." So this was Trevor Beau, Frank and Joe both realized.

"That's not all," a woman broke in. "The state has been trying to fix the bridge, but every bit of progress they make gets washed away during the night. Then two nights ago, we saw strange lights out on the water." She shuddered. "It's Nettie. There's no other explanation."

"Nettie?" Joe repeated.

"That's what we've called the lake monster for years," the woman explained. "No one has every believed in her, and now she's taking her revenge."

"Why'd she wait this long?" Joe asked with more pointedness than tact.

Before anyone could answer, a girl about the Hardys' age came running from farther down the bank. Her cheeks were flushed from running, but her eyes were wide with worry.

"Has anyone seen Danny?" she asked to the assembly in general. "He – he hasn't been home all day. I didn't think anything of it until – until –"

To the Hardys' and Tony's surprise, she started crying and couldn't finish the statement.

"Until what, Meg?" Father Percy asked.

Meg took a breath and held it, trying to control her tears. Finally, she stopped crying long enough to say, "Until I found weird tracks behind our house. And – and blood."


	2. Strange Tracks

Chapter II: Strange Tracks

"Calm down, Meg," Father Percy told the distraught girl. "I'm sure nothing's happened to your brother."

"But the tracks," Meg protested. "And the blood. It looks like a murder scene."

"You see?" Trevor Beau spoke up. "What have I been telling all of you? This monster means to kill us all."

"Hold on," Frank broke in. "There's no proof that anyone's been killed, or that anyone's going to be."

"But the blood," Meg said again.

"That doesn't necessarily mean anything," Frank assured her. "Did you touch anything or leave any of your own tracks on the scene?"

"No," Meg told him.

"Okay. You say the tracks and blood are behind your house? Have you been back there since you last saw your brother but before you saw the tracks for the first time?" Frank asked.

Meg blinked. "I – I guess I was. Does that mean that they don't have anything to do with Danny?"

"Possibly," Frank told her. "Is there a sheriff in this town?"

Several people spoke up to say that there was a deputy from the county sheriff's department stationed there.

"Good," Frank said. "Somebody go tell him to meet us at Meg's house. If you don't mind, Meg, you could show Joe, Tony, and me the place. Nobody else should come, though, until the sheriff has a chance to look around."

By now Meg had evidently collected her wits enough to ask, "Um, who are you, anyway?"

"I'm Joe Hardy," Joe told her. "This is my brother Frank and our friend Tony Prito. We just sort of, uh, dropped in."

Frank rolled his eyes. "Never mind any lame jokes right now, Joe. We know a bit about investigations, and we'll just want to make sure nobody disturbs the scene."

After having a few minutes to think the situation out, he realized that it would be best if nobody else knew that he and Joe were detectives, at least until they knew a little more about what was going on. He just hoped that Joe or Tony wouldn't blurt it out.

"I'll get the deputy," Trevor Beau volunteered. "But it's not going to do any good. There's nothing he can do against a lake monster."

"Hey, guys, can't this wait for later?" Tony asked. Although it was June, the day wasn't particularly warm and Tony was shivering in his soaked clothes. "Can't we get some dry clothes first? Or at least some shoes?"

"You can, if you want," Joe told him. "We're going to go check out those tracks."

Meg looked around at several different people, as if she was silently asking them for some sign for what to do. Finally, with a shiver, she said, "I'll show you the place. But I – I don't want to go near there again."

She led Frank, Joe, and Tony (the last still shivering but not wanting to miss out on the investigation) to a small, comfortable house with the name "Welling" on the mailbox. Despite Frank's admonition for the crowd not to follow, most of them did.

"It's in the back," Meg told them. "I'm not going back there again."

"All right," Frank said. "Everyone else stay here."

He, Joe, and Tony went around to the back, their bare feet squishing into the muddy lawn. The house was right on the edge of town with the woods coming right up against the backyard. There was a set of webbed, clawed tracks leading from the woods and then back into it. They turned right at a reddish-brown patch that did look alarmingly like blood.

"Wow. Look at the size of those tracks," Joe commented. He crouched down next to one of them and held his hand up against it. The track was about four inches wider and two and half inches longer than his hand.

"What kind of animal has tracks like that?" Tony asked. "It's not a bear or a cougar. What other large animals live around here?"

"Bigfoot," Joe said, keeping his face straight.

"Not helping," Frank told him.

Just then Trevor Beau and another man dressed in a sheriff's department uniform came into the backyard.

"You must be the boys Trevor was telling me about," the uniformed man said. "I'm Kent Danver, the deputy stationed here in Willowa Lake."

The boys introduced themselves, and then Deputy Danver began examining the scene.

"What's your boys' interest in this?" Danver asked.

"We crash land into a town with a lake monster just when somebody disappears and you have to ask us why we're interested?" Joe countered.

"Good point," Danver admitted. He sighed. "I guess this means I'm going to have to send a sample of this blood – if that's what it is – to the lab in Coeur d'Alene, and that means I'm going to have to cross the river."

Frank was surprised. "Surely you don't believe in the monster?"

"You boys stay a few days," Danver told him. "It'll be enough to make believers out of all three of you."

Joe grinned. "That'll take some doing."

"Is there anything else to do here?" Tony asked. "I think we've seen everything."  
"We should try following those tracks," Joe suggested. "I'll bet they'll lead us straight to the monster or whatever really took Danny."

Beau shivered. "You're not serious, are you? Who knows what's out there?"

"You boys are on your own on that one," Danver told them.

"But isn't it your duty to investigate this fully?" Joe protested.

"I'll call in the FBI," the deputy replied. "They can follow those tracks if they want. I already know what happened to Danny Welling."

Frank frowned at this, but all he said was: "Come on, guys. We can't go hiking in the woods in bare feet." He looked at the deputy and Trevor Beau. "Is there anywhere to buy clothes and shoes in this town?"

"You might find some things at the grocery store," Danver told him. "Other than that, I'm afraid you're out of luck."

When they went back around to the front of the house, the crowd of people were still there.

"Well?" Meg asked. "Did you find anything?"

Danver put on a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry, Meg. It looks like you're right that this is the monster's work."

Tears came into Meg's eyes anew.

"Hey," Joe broke in. "Come on. There's no such thing as lake monsters. I mean, there could be some big animal living in the lake, but it's definitely not supernatural."

"What difference does it make?" Meg asked. "Whether it was a real animal or a ghost one, it doesn't make Danny any less – gone."

Frank groaned inwardly. Meg, along with most of the people in Willowa Lake, was convinced that a monster was at work. At this point, it looked like the only thing that would change their minds would be to prove that the monster wasn't real.

He pulled his arms close to him, shivering. "Let's go find some dry clothes."

He, Joe, and Tony walked away toward what looked like the main street of the town. They were relieved when no one followed them.

They found the grocery store with no trouble, but they were disappointed to find that the only clothes sold there were t-shirts and hoodies with "Willowa Lake" and goofy pictures of the lake monster on them.

"I guess we'll have souvenirs so that we'll never forget this little detour," Joe commented, taking a green shirt and a gray hoodie off the rack.

"Do either of you guys have any money?" Tony asked. "My wallet's at the bottom of the lake with my shoes."

"My wallet was in my pocket," Frank said. "I can pay for all of this."

After they had bought the clothing, they asked directions to Father Percy's house. He lived in a medium-sized house next to the church. When they rang the bell, he was at home.

"I hope your offer of a place to stay is still good," Joe said.

"Yes, of course," Father Percy assured him. "In fact, I was just trying to find sheets and pillows for the spare beds. There are only two spare beds, actually. I can sleep on the couch, though."

"No, I'll take the couch," Tony volunteered. "It'll probably only be for a couple of nights, anyway."

The boys all took hot showers, which felt nice after spending so long being cold and damp with clothes and hair that smelled like the lake water. Father Percy loaned them all pairs of pants until their own dried.

"We're still going to need to scrounge up some shoes somewhere," Tony said. "I'm not doing anymore investigating barefoot."

"If you're planning on going into the woods, you'll need some hiking boots," Father Percy said. "I have a pair that one of you can borrow. I'm sure someone else will be willing to loan two more pairs."

"Thanks," Frank said. He glanced out the window at the lengthening shadows. "It's too late to go tonight, anyway. In the meantime, what can you tell us about Meg and her brother?"

"They're the youngest two of the Welling kids," Father Percy explained. "There are two older sisters, but they're both married and moved away. Their parents are away visiting their oldest daughter, so Danny and Meg have been on their own during this whole thing."

"Are they the sort who'd play a joke on everybody?" Joe asked. "Or, at least, is Danny?"

Father Percy looked up at the wall thoughtfully. "I guess they both like a good joke as much as the next person, but I think they're both mature enough to realize that this isn't a good joke."

"Which one's older, Meg or Danny?" Joe continued. "Do they get along?"

"They seem to get along just fine," Father Percy replied. "Danny's older by about two years."

"Hmm," Joe mused, taking that information in.

"What are you getting at, Joe?" Frank asked.

"It's just that Meg didn't seem all that upset," Joe replied.

Tony snorted. "Yeah, she just was practically in hysterics."

Joe nodded. "That's the key word: 'practically.' She wasn't in hysterics, though, and she should have been."

"Seriously?" Tony asked, raising his eyebrows skeptically. "Do people really go into hysterics?"

"Sure," Joe replied. "When they think that a lake monster is out to destroy their entire town and has just made a snack of their brother right in their backyard. I'd totally freak out about that."

"So you're saying she was faking it," Tony concluded.

Joe shrugged. "Maybe, or maybe she just knows more about it than she's letting on."

"The real question is what happened to Danny?" Frank said. "If he's not playing a joke and he didn't get eaten by a lake monster, what else could have happened to him?"

"Does he have any enemies?" Tony asked Father Percy.

The priest shook his head. "Not that I know of. Of course, I've only been stationed here a little more than a year. There could be something I don't know about, but for the most part the Wellings seem to get along well with everyone, which is more than I can say about most people in town."

"What do you mean?" Frank asked.

"It's a small town, so there will always be some backbiting," Father Percy explained. "There are a number of very public arguments between several people."

"Like what?" Frank pressed. "It will come in handy to know if we're investigating."

"There's a big dispute between Trevor Beau and his brother-in-law Jason Cortney," Father Percy said. "Each of them accuses the other of stealing from him, and neither has any objection to stating his opinions loudly and publicly. People have complained about it a good deal, and so there's a three-way split over the disagreement."

"You said there were more than one public argument," Joe prompted him, thinking that an argument between a guy and his brother-in-law wasn't likely to be the source of the trouble.

"The other one is even bigger," Father Percy said. "There's a big dispute over who the land around here belongs to. There are two big industries around here – fishing and ranching. The ranchers own a good portion of the land, but there's not enough to go around already. There is an environmentalist group that wants to turn the area around Willowa Lake into a state park, which will require the ranchers to give up some of their land and the fishermen to have more restrictions on how much they can fish, which will cut into their business. Then there's the faction that wants to turn this town into some sort of themed tourist attraction, kind of like Leavenworth over in Washington. The forth faction is the Tribe, who think that all the land should be returned to them because it's technically on the reservation."

"Is Danny Welling or his parents tied to any of these positions?" Frank asked.

Father Percy shook his head. "They stay pretty quiet about the whole thing. I honestly have no idea what their opinions on the matter even are."

"In that case," Frank said, "it looks like we've got our work cut out for us."


	3. Danny Welling

Chapter III: Danny Welling

When the boys woke up the next morning, they found that Father Percy had already left. Joe discovered three pairs of hiking boots in the entryway with a note saying:

 _I had to leave early this morning. Two of my parishioners loaned you some boots to use while you're here._

 _-Fr. Percy_

"Looks like we're all set to go following those tracks," Joe commented.

"Right," Frank agreed. "That will be our first order of business as soon as we find out whether Deputy Danver called in the FBI and whether they've arrived."

The deputy was already in his office, downing a mug of coffee. He looked surprised to see the boys.

"Yeah, I called in the FBI," he said. "They said they'll be sending a couple of agents and they'll be here this afternoon. You're still interested in this whole matter?"

"Can you blame us?" Joe asked. "How often do you get stranded by a lake monster?"

Danver frowned. "If you boys understood anything about what's happening here, you'd leave it all well enough alone. There's no point in making Nettie any madder than she already is."

"I don't know about you, but I have a pretty hard time taking a monster named Nettie seriously," Tony commented.

"We didn't take her seriously either," Danver said gravely. "That's what our problem is now."

As the three boys walked out of the deputy's office, Joe smirked and shook his head. "Boy, life would sure be easier for us if we solved all our cases like Danver solves his. Who was Jack the Ripper? River monster. Who killed JFK? Lake monster. What happened to Amelia Earhart? Sea monster."

"Do you guys think the people around here are for real?" Tony asked. "How could they honestly think that there really is a monster in the lake?"

"Beats me," Frank replied, "but there are only two choices: either most people who say that the monster is real honestly believe it or most people in town are in on whatever's going on. The first one sounds unlikely, but the second one is practically impossible."

"What kind of motive would anyone have for rigging it up to look like there's a lake monster?" Tony asked.

"Motives are overrated," Joe replied. "Focusing on motives too much is a great way to keep yourself from solving the mystery. A lot of times, you don't find out what the perp's motive is until after you find out who the perp is, or there're other people with better-sounding motives than the real perp. It's more important to look at opportunity."

"A missing person, strange tracks, blood, a washed-out bridge, sabotage in trying to rebuild said bridge, damaged phone lines, strange lights, a capsized boat, and a wrecked plane." Frank ran through the list of odd happenings. "Pretty much classic haunting stuff. It would take a lot of work to do all of that in a few days, though."

"Maybe the bridge and phone lines went out because of that storm, and someone decided to use it to their advantage," Joe suggested. "The rest of it wouldn't be too hard to do, if you're determined enough."

By now they had reached the Welling house. Meg Welling came out the front door to meet them. She seemed completely calm now, and Joe couldn't resist giving Frank and Tony an I-told-you-so look.

"Do you want something?" Meg asked.

"We'd like to see where those tracks lead, if you don't mind," Frank told her.

"I don't think you should do that," Meg replied. "It's too dangerous. That monster is out there somewhere." She gestured vaguely toward the trees.

"I thought it lived in the lake, not the woods," Joe commented.

"It does, but it obviously went through the woods yesterday," Meg said. "It could be out there again. If – if we're not safe in town, then nobody is safe in the forest for sure."

"Well, if we're not safe in town anyway, we might as well go out into the woods," Joe replied.

As Meg threw her head back and groaned in frustration, Frank asked her, "Don't you want us to find your brother?"

"Yes, of course, I would want you to, if it was possible," Meg said, "but it's not possible, so there's no point in risking your lives to do it."

"We'll be careful," Frank told her. "In fact, we'll probably be back by noon."

"If we're not, just assume that the monster got us and don't bother looking for us," Joe added. "That's Danver's policy anyway."

Before Meg could retort, the boys set out into the woods, following the tracks. After about a dozen yards, the tracks vanished.

"What's the deal here?" Tony asked. "Do you think the monster can fly?"

"Hardly," Frank replied, crouching down to examine the ground closely. "Someone must have used a device of some kind to make those tracks, and so they only bothered to keep going until they were out of sight."

"Wouldn't that be pretty tough to make those tracks and kidnap somebody at the same time?" Tony said.

"They didn't," Joe told him. "Meg said that she saw the tracks after she noticed that her brother was missing. Whoever did it must have grabbed him and then come back later to leave the 'evidence' that would make it look like the lake monster got Danny."

"That makes sense," Tony admitted. "How are we going to find Danny by poking around out here then?"

"Look." Frank pointed at the ground. "There's a boot print. It's muddy enough that we should be able to follow these tracks."

The boys started following the boot prints. They walked slowly because, even with the mud, there was enough grass and weeds to make the prints hard to spot. Instead of circling around for a short distance and heading back to town, as Frank and Joe expected, they continued to go farther into the forest.

Eventually, the boot prints met up with what looked like a well-worn trail. All three boys had spent enough time in the wilderness to know that not everything that looked like a trail really was one, but this time it didn't matter. They simply had to follow the boot prints.

"Wonder where this is going to end," Joe said, panting as they climbed a steep hill.

"It looks like right here," replied Frank, who was in the lead.

Joe and Tony caught up to him as he stopped, and all three looked down as the chasm that was at their feet.

"What a view," Tony commented.

It was a stunning view. They were standing on the edge of a canyon, which spread out to the edge of their view, its sides covered with evergreen trees and rock formations.

"Whoever made those prints must have walked right over the edge," Joe said, wrinkling his forehead in confusion. "They just stop right here."

"Maybe there's a way down that we can't see," Frank suggested, carefully peering over the edge of the canyon.

He didn't see any sign of a trail leading downwards. Just when he was about to step back a little farther, he heard a faint noise that sounded like a human voice.

"Did you hear that?" he asked his two companions.

All three listened hard. After a minute or so, they all thought they heard a call for help.

"Maybe whoever it is did fall over the edge," Tony suggested.

"If that's so, how are we going to help him without falling down ourselves?" Joe asked.

Frank looked up and down the sides of the canyon to the left and right. He pointed a short distance to their right. "It doesn't look too steep over there. We might be able to get down."

"Only one of us better try it," Tony said. "Someone else can keep watch in case whoever tries to climb down gets into trouble, and the third can go back to town to get help."

"If anyone will come out here to help," Joe commented. "It's a good plan, though. I'll climb down there."

"Hold on," Frank said. "I think I should go down."

"You two sort this out and I'll head back to town," Tony volunteered, turning around and going back the way they had come.

"Rock, paper, scissors?" Joe asked.

Frank was the winner and he began the descent. He hadn't gone far before he realized that it was steeper than it looked. Hesitating, he tried to make up his mind whether he should abandon this quest and wait for Tony to return with help when his feet slid out from underneath him.

With a startled cry, Frank began to slip down the slope, brush whipping against his face. At first, he threw his arms in front of his face to protect it, but a moment later he thought better of this. He grabbed one of the small bushes, grimacing with pain as he did. By sheer bad luck, he'd grabbed onto a wild rosebush. Even though the thorns dug into his palm, he didn't loosen his grip while he tried to find a firm place to put his feet.

"Frank!" Joe shouted, alarmed when he saw his brother's fall.

"I'm fine!" Frank called back up. "But I'm kind of stuck."

"Want me to come down?" Joe asked.

"Better not," Frank replied. "Hold on."

He saw that there was an outcropping of rock a few feet beneath him. Hoping the rock wasn't loose, he carefully let go of the rosebush and allowed himself to slide down. The rock was firm, and Frank was able to regain his balance there.

As his pulse returned to a normal pace, he turned his attention to his hand. There were several bloody cuts from the thorns, but it didn't look too bad. He wrapped his handkerchief around it.

"Do you see anything down there?" Joe called.

Frank looked around, but he didn't see any sign of another person down there. He was about to shout this up to his brother when a voice from the left and down called softly, "Help."

"There's definitely someone down here," Frank reported to Joe, "but he's still farther down than this."

Joe bit his lip, trying to decide what he should advise Frank to do, even though he already knew that it would make much difference to what Frank did.

"I think I can make it from here," Frank called up. "There's a deer trail that goes right over this rock."

Treading carefully to keep from sliding any farther, he followed the trail. It took him down into the trees, where the soil was firmer. He called out to the person who had been shouting for help. After a pause of several seconds, the voice called for help again.

Now that he was closer to the source of the voice, Frank could tell that it belonged to a man. He could also tell that it wasn't just soft; it was feeble. Whoever was down there must be badly hurt.

Frank continued down the deer trail. By now he was nearly at the bottom of this spur of the canyon. There was a shallow but noisy creek bubbling about ten feet below the trail.

"Hello?" Frank called. "Are you still there?"

"Help, help," the voice said weakly.

It was coming from just ahead. Frank rounded a bend and saw a man lying face down on the ground. He was dressed in camo shirt and trousers, which were torn and bloody.

Frank sprinted the last few steps and bent down next to him. The young man was alive and just barely conscious. He had a large, ugly swelling on his head and cuts on his arms and torso.

When Frank touched him on the shoulder, he groaned and looked up at him from the corner of his eyes. "Please help me."

"I will," Frank assured him. "You'll be fine. Who are you and what happened?"

"Dan Welling," the man whispered. "It was the lake monster."


	4. Disputes

Chapter IV: Disputes

Joe paced back and forth along the crest of the canyon wall. Ever since Frank had started down the deer trail and gone in among the trees, he'd been out of sight. It wasn't that Joe was worried about him; he just didn't like being left out of things.

A few minutes later, Joe heard a shout from behind him. He looked back to see Tony and a woman in her early thirties running jogging toward him. The woman had a coil of rope slung over her shoulder.

"Say, Joe," Tony panted as he stopped next to his friend. "This is Elena Lonewolf. She was nearby and had some rope. She says she'll help."

"Great," Joe said. "My brother Frank already climbed down there. He says that there's definitely someone there, but I don't know whether he's found them or not."

Elena Lonewolf nodded. "If someone did fall down this canyon, there's not a very good chance that they survived."

"They were calling for help," Joe reminded her. "Last time I checked, a person had to be alive to do that."

Ms. Lonewolf gave him an unimpressed look, but she made no comment. She took the rope off of her shoulder and began knotting one end of it around a tree.

"I'll climb down to help your brother," she said. "He shouldn't have gone in the first place. It's too dangerous if you don't know what you're doing."

Joe rolled his eyes. The mere fact that something was dangerous was not enough to stop him or Frank from doing it. Besides that, when it came to mountain climbing, they did know what they were doing. They'd both free-climbed far steeper mountains that this.

Even so, Joe didn't argue. Ms. Lonewolf didn't seem particularly pleased with the situation. It wouldn't do to offend her and possibly lose the use of her rope. After all, if there was an injured person in the canyon, the only way to get them out would be with the rope.

Meanwhile, Frank was doing what he could for Danny Welling. He had lost a lot of blood and had a fever, which Frank rationalized could be responsible for Danny's comment about the lake monster.

Although Frank checked Danny for any broken bones, he didn't find any. _That's strange,_ Frank thought. The cuts and the lack of broken bones weren't consistent with a fall. It looked like something really had attacked Danny. For a moment, a creepy feeling tingled on the back of his neck.

Frank shook the feeling off as soon as it came. He knew that whatever had happened to Danny, it hadn't been caused by a lake monster. It was possible that it was a bear or some other animal, though, and it might still be around.

Just as this thought occurred to him, Frank heard a sound behind him. His heart skipping a beat, he jumped to his feet and whirled around. A woman was standing behind him.

"You look like you were expecting a lake monster," she said.

Frank smiled wryly. "I admit, the thought did cross my mind. I'm Frank Hardy. This guy here needs help. He's really hurt."

"Elena Lonewolf," the woman replied. "Your brother and your friend sent me. I've got a rope. Do you think we can move him?"

Frank thought back on the long descent he had had only a short while before. "It's not going to be easy on him, but I think we should try it. He doesn't seem to have any broken bones or a back injury or anything."

"All right. Let's do it," Ms. Lonewolf said.

Together, she and Frank picked up Danny and carried him to where Ms. Lonewolf's rope dangled down the edge of the canyon. Ms. Lonewolf made a make-shift harness with the rope and put Danny into it. Then she and Frank shouted up to Joe and Tony to help them pull Danny up.

When they'd gotten him to the top, they laid him on the edge of the canyon. Joe noticed that he looked very pale.

"We'd better get him to a hospital as fast as possible," Joe said. "It'll be a long way to carry him all the way back to town, though."

"And there's no hospital when we get him there," Ms. Lonewolf added. "They'll have to helicopter him out of here. We can make a stretcher to carry him to town. It will save some time and effort."

She got to work cutting brush with a knife that she had and tying it together with the rope. The boys helped, and when they had finished they laid Danny on it. Joe and Tony insisted on carrying the stretcher, since they hadn't had to climb up and down the slope.

As they walked, Frank surveyed their new acquaintance with curiosity. "It sure was lucky that Tony just happened to run into you and that you just happened to have a rope."

Ms. Lonewolf returned his glance. "You're not convinced that it was simply luck, are you?"

"I don't usually go hiking with a coil of rope," Frank replied. "Then there also is the fact that everyone else in town is too terrified to leave."

Ms. Lonewolf smiled for the first time since they had met her. "I don't need to worry. The creature – the lake monster as you call her – has no quarrel with my people. She knows we belong here."

"So ol' Nettie would just as soon see the land returned to the Native Americans," Joe commented. "How convenient for you."

"Are you trying to say that I'm somehow to blame for what she's been doing?" Ms. Lonewolf asked. "I should be offended, but the idea is too ridiculous for that."  
"But you would like it if the land was returned to your people," Frank commented.

"Naturally," Ms. Lonewolf replied, "but I certainly wouldn't hurt anyone to get it back. Not even financially. Everyone who would be asked to leave would receive some compensation. We know well what it's like to lose your home."

"In that case, wouldn't it just be easiest to just leave things the way they are?" Tony asked. "I mean, you could make some sort of agreement that if anyone does want to sell their land, your people would have first dibs on buying it, but you wouldn't have to make anyone leave."

"Perhaps," Ms. Lonewolf said with a half-smile. "It's too bad your ancestors didn't see it that way."

Tony was about to say that at the time when the United States was still acquiring territory, his ancestors were still living in Italy, but he didn't see a point in aggravating the issue.

"We hear that there's quite a bit of difference of opinion about what should be done with the land around here," Frank said, changing the subject a little.

"'Difference of opinion' is putting it mildly," Ms. Lonewolf replied. "There are hardly two people who completely agree. It's gotten pretty ugly, especially when you throw Jason Cortney and Trevor Beau into the mix."

"We heard about them," Frank said. "I'd heard that their disagreement was over something else, something private."

"It's about as private as World War II," Ms. Lonewolf told him. "Even the people who aren't and shouldn't be involved are affected. It's how the whole land dispute got so heated up."

"How so?" Joe asked.

"Jason was trying to get some tacky tourist shop started up," Ms. Lonewolf explained. "He thought that if he sold cheap souvenirs and rented kayaks, he could attract people to Willowa Lake. Trevor loaned him a lot of money, but then later changed his mind. Trevor's a fisherman, and he realized that the tourists would get in the way. He demanded the money back, but Jason wouldn't give it to him. Then Jason's shop folded and he lost the money anyway."

"How did that lead to a town-wide disagreement?" Frank asked.

"Trevor accused Jason of stealing the money from him," Ms. Lonewolf said. "Jason accused Trevor of somehow sabotaging his business so that it would fail. In a small town like this, there are bound to be people who take sides. Somehow both Jason and Trevor got the idea that if whoever had the most supporters would 'win' the argument. Jason started convincing people that the only way for this town to survive is to draw in as many tourists as possible, while Trevor went about stirring the ranchers and the fishermen up against that idea. Then Amber Hoelt decided to take advantage of the situation by telling people that the best way to bring in tourists is to turn the area into a state park. As long as the land was in dispute, my people jumped in to point out that we have a right to the land, particularly since it's on the reservation."

"So the two disputes are really the same one," Frank concluded.

"How's the situation standing at the moment?" Joe asked. "Is it a total draw, or does anybody have the upper hand?"  
"I guess if anyone has the upper hand, it would be the ranchers and the fishermen," Ms. Lonewolf replied with a shrug. "That's fine with me, if my people can't get the land back. At least they don't want to bring a bunch of tourists in who would disturb the land and her."

"Her?" Tony asked.

"The lake monster," Ms. Lonewolf explained. "Her true name has been lost, and Nettie is disrespectful. Perhaps if the others in Willowa Lake had realized that, she would not be bothering them now."

Frank, Joe, and Tony all exchanged glances. They were all thinking the same thing: How could so many people be convinced that they were being terrorized by an actual lake monster?

They finally reached town with their burden. As soon as people saw them coming with a stretcher, they came running to see what had happened. When they realized who was being carried on the stretcher, they became even more excited.

While someone went to get Deputy Danver to tell him to radio for Life Flight, others went to find Meg Welling. Meanwhile, Danny was taken into the nearest house and laid on a bed. As his rescuers had feared, the trip had been hard on him and he had lost consciousness. Meg came running into the house a few minutes later, her face a mixture of hope and fear.

"We told you we'd find him," Joe said to her.

"Is he badly hurt?" Meg asked. "What happened to him if the lake monster didn't get him?"

"We don't know, honestly," Joe replied.

"Did he say anything about it?" Meg insisted. "Was he conscious at all after you found him?"

"Um, well," Frank said hesitantly. "He was conscious. He said that he was attacked by the monster."

"I knew it!" Meg wailed. "I'm going to go with him when they come to take him out of here. I can't take this anymore."

"I'm afraid you can't do that, ma'am," a man who had been blending in with the crowd said. Now he and woman with him stepped forward.

"Why not?" Meg asked. "Who are you to tell me I can't go if I want?"

"Agent Adam Schneider from the FBI," the man replied. "This is my partner, Agent Debbie Clarke. We've been assigned to look into your brother's disappearance. It appears now that it is a case of attempted murder. As of now, everyone in this town is a suspect and nobody leaves."


	5. Threats

Chapter V: Threats

"Can you do that?" Meg asked, staring at the FBI agents in wide-eyed disbelief.

"We can hold suspects for questioning," Agent Debbie Clarke told her. "For now, everyone in this town is a suspect, and we intend to take statements from all of them."

"That'll take awhile," Joe commented.

The two FBI agents looked at him, sizing him up. After a moment, Agent Adam Schneider said, "In that case, we can start by taking statements from you and your friends. We're using Deputy Danver's office for our headquarters while we're here. We'll talk there."

As the agents led the three boys outside, Frank caught up to Schneider and said, "Excuse me, but shouldn't you make sure none of the suspects escape?"

"There's no place to escape to," Schneider replied. "Besides, you three are the ones who found Welling. You know more about it than anyone else, other than whoever's behind it."

"Elena Lonewolf was there, too," Frank pointed out. "Shouldn't you question her as well?"

"We'll get to that," Schneider said.

When they reached Danver's office, the three boys were given chairs. Schneider sat on the edge of the desk, while Clarke stood and worked the recorder.

After the boys had stated their names and where they lived, Schneider looked at each of them in turn and asked, "Why are you here?"

"Didn't Danver already tell you that?" Joe countered.

"Just answer the question," Clarke told him.

Joe looked over at Frank who shrugged. Then he turned back to the FBI agents. "We were flying home from Seattle. Our plane had some sort of trouble and all the controls went out. We made an emergency landing in the lake, and now we're stranded here."

Schneider raised his eyebrow. "Come on, now," he said in a patronizing tone. "You're not stranded. You can get out the same way we got in. Why are you really still here?"

"Hey, you don't think we had anything to do with Danny Welling?" Tony asked. "We couldn't have. We'd just gotten here when his sister came running, saying he was missing."

"I didn't say anything of the sort," Schneider said. "All I want to know is why you're still here."

"We can't leave without borrowing a boat from someone on this side of the river and then getting a ride from someone on the other side," Frank explained. "Between the phone lines being down and us not knowing anyone around here, it's no wonder that we're still around."

"That doesn't explain how you were able to find a missing person in area that you're not familiar with in under four hours," Clarke prodded.

"Oh," Joe said, understanding now what the agents were getting at. "If that's what you wanted to know about, why didn't you just say so? We followed a trail of tracks to where Danny was."

"Lake monster tracks?" Schneider asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No, boot tracks," Joe replied. "If that deputy would have bothered to investigate instead of just saying, 'Sorry, ma'am, your brother's been eaten by a lake monster,' he would have seen that the 'monster tracks' only go a little ways into the trees. After that, we found a trail of bootprints."

Schneider nodded. "Fair enough. You must be pretty good at tracking if you could follow those tracks."

"We have some experience," Joe said.

"We know all about that," Clarke replied, throwing subtlety to the wind. "We have quite a file on your amateur detective work. Is that the real reason you're still here? Are you trying to find out what happened?"

Schneider sighed and shook his head. Clearly he'd been hoping to take a different line of questioning.

"Yes," Frank admitted.

"If you know about their detective work, then you know that they're good at what they do," Tony spoke up. "If you work with them, you'll have this whole case wrapped up in no time."

Clarke scowled. "I don't care if they're Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot. I don't work with amateur detectives. I want all three of you out of here by tomorrow morning."

Joe's jaw tightened. He hated to have his status as an amateur cast up to him. Frank noticed and realized he'd better say something first.

"We were only trying to help," he explained. "After all, we seemed to be about the only ones who didn't think that Danny Welling had been killed by the lake monster. We figured we'd be the only ones who would bother to look for him."

"Of course, we thank you for that," Schneider hastened to say, dropping some of his patronizing air since his partner had spoiled his strategy. "What Agent Clarke means is that now that we're here, we won't need anymore help. We would like to know about any other leads that you've turned up."

"We haven't really found any, actually," Frank replied. "As for leaving, though, we'd like to stick around and at least be on hand when you find out what's going on here."

"No," Clarke said flatly.

That ended the conversation. The boys were ushered out of the office and began walking slowly down the street toward the lake.

"We're not really going to leave, are we?" Joe asked.

Frank shrugged. "There's not much else we can do, really. That Agent Clarke looks like she'd be just as happy to bust us for obstructing an official investigation as Olaf would be back home."

Joe made a face at the mention of Detective Lieutenant Olaf of the Bayport Police Department, whom Joe liked to refer to as their arch-nemesis. "In that case, we can't leave, if only on principle."

"We don't want to get in trouble with the FBI," Tony pointed out. "I'm sure they can handle this."

"Maybe," Joe said dubiously. "By the time they get through interviewing everyone in town, who knows what else would happen? Whoever's behind all the trouble has already proven that they're dangerous."

"We've still got the rest of today to investigate," Frank replied. "Maybe we can turn up something. We still haven't –"

As Frank was saying this, they were nearing the end of a block. Just as they were about to pass the corner, a woman rounded it and stood in their way. Frank had to stop walking abruptly to keep from running into her.

Instead of apologizing, she narrowed her eyes. "You!" she exclaimed, jabbing a finger at the three boys. "This is your fault! First you crash your plane into the lake and now you bring Danny Welling back. We'll be lucky if we're not all killed."

"Excuse me?" Joe replied, blinking in surprise. "What are you talking about?"

"Nettie, of couse," the woman said. "You've done nothing but aggravate her since you've come here. Don't you think she's angry enough with us as it is?"

"If she didn't want us to land in her lake, she shouldn't have cast a spell on our plane or whatever," Joe retorted.

The woman narrowed her eyes. "Now you dare to mock her? You'd best watch your step, or you'll have Nettie coming after you next."

"You seem to know who we are," Frank interjected, "but I don't remember being introduced to you."

The woman snorted. "As if I would need introductions to recognize three strangers in this town. I'm Dr. Amber Hoelt."

Frank, Joe, and Tony exchanged glances. So this was the leader of the environmentalist group who wanted Willowa Lake to be made into a state park.

"Well, we're very sorry to have disturbed your monster," Joe said with a touch of sarcasm.

"She's not a monster," Dr. Hoelt corrected him, "and she's certainly not mine. Nettie belongs to herself, and all of the land around here is hers to protect. She's the guardian spirit of this area."

"Okay," Joe replied, drawing out the first syllable.

Frank thought Dr. Hoelt's statement just as ridiculous as Joe did, but he knew he had to get information out of her. "No one's mentioned that before. Would you tell us more about it?"

"Gladly," Dr. Hoelt replied. "Nettie and other creatures like her, such as the Yeti and the Loch Ness Monster, are guardians of Nature. Wherever humans go, we disturb Nature to no end. Even before white people came here and the Native Americans had the land to themselves – at least, as far as humans were concerned – humanity was making a negative impact here. Things have gotten even worse since the town was built and the ranchers came and especially the fishermen. Nettie's patience is at an end and she has finally risen up in protest."

Ever since the word "Yeti", Joe and Tony had been having a much too hard of time trying to keep from bursting out laughing to say a word. That left Frank to say, "Mm hmm. That's very interesting. I suppose it would explain some the things that have happened, like the bridge being washed out."

"Exactly." Dr. Hoelt nodded in approval. "The bridge is the very symbol of Nettie's bondage. It is a natural choice for her to destroy that first."

Joe felt a corner of his mouth twitch. From Dr. Hoelt's expression as she looked at him, he guessed that she must have noticed.

"You won't be laughing at Nettie much longer," she said.

Frank cleared his throat, trying to warn Joe and Tony to keep straight faces. "So you're a doctor." He turned to Dr. Hoelt again. "What field is your PhD in?"

"Environmental sciences and cryptozoology," she replied. "In fact, I did my thesis on Nettie and other so-called monsters like her."

"So you're still hanging around here, looking after Nettie's best interests," Frank commented.

"Yes," Dr. Hoelt said. "I teach at a university in Oregon, but I come here every summer to do what I can for Nettie."

"Would that be turning this place into a state park?" Frank asked.

Dr. Hoelt didn't reply at once. "Yes and no," she said finally. "It would mean that the state would give more protection to Nature in this area than she gets already, but it would also mean an increase in tourism. That might just do more harm than good."

"But we heard that you wanted more tourists here," Joe blurted out.

Dr. Hoelt gave him a scathing look. She had obviously taken a particular dislike to him. "I don't know who has been spreading such disinformation, but I assure you there is no truth in it. If I could have my way, the state would make this into a protected area where only scientists dedicated to protecting Nature would be allowed to come."

Frank nodded. "That makes more sense. I suppose in a small town like this, gossip and rumors run wild all the time. We even heard you didn't start lobbying to make this a state park until after the dispute between the ranchers and fishermen and the Jason Cortney started up. You were probably working on it long before that."

"Actually, I didn't start actively working toward it until after the dispute started," Dr. Hoelt admitted. "I didn't think I stood a chance before that."

"Back to Nettie," Joe broke in. "Why would she attack Danny Welling and drag him out into the woods? And if she didn't just outright kill him, why would she be so angry that we rescued him?"

Dr. Hoelt shrugged. "I don't know. Danny must have done something to anger her, or else she was using him as an example to the rest of us. As for your second question, it seems obvious to me that if Nettie does something, she doesn't want it undone by humans. If she sees fit to destroy someone, it is by far best to let her."

"That's awfully hard luck on Danny, though," Tony commented.

"The mere fact that we're here is hard luck on Nettie," Dr. Hoelt replied coldly. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go." She made eye contact with each boy in turn, letting her gaze rest on Joe as she said, "If I were you, I would leave immediately. It's not safe for you here."


	6. The Clouds Gather

Chapter VI: The Clouds Gather

"I sure hope Dr. Hoelt doesn't invite us along on any picnics," Joe said as he continued walking toward the lake with Frank and Tony after their encounter with the scientist.

"Huh?" Tony cast him a confused look.

"We'd go hungry," Joe replied. "She's a few sandwiches short."

Frank groaned. "Not now, Joe. We can't waste any time. We've got to find out as much as we can before Agents Schneider and Clarke kick us out of here."

"I don't have to worry," Joe said with mock seriousness. "According to Dr. Hoelt, it sounds like I'm going to be the lake monster's next victim. It's been nice knowing you guys."

"Aw, come on, Joe," Tony told him. "Dr. Hoelt's a real weirdo, but what good does it do to keep making fun of her?"

"What if she's not actually a weirdo?" Frank mused.

"Um, Frank, she told us with a straight face that the monster is the guardian of the lake and that the Yeti and the Loch Ness Monster are real," Joe reminded him. "I'm pretty sure that's the definition of 'weirdo'."

"I mean, what if it's an act?" Frank clarified his question. "Maybe she's behind some of the strange things that have been happening, and she's just pretending to take the monster seriously to cover it up."

"There's one way to check," Joe said. "We can ask around town and see if she's always believed in Nettie or if it's a new infatuation."

"Let's start with Father Percy," Frank suggested. "He might be home by now."

When they got to the priest's house, they found that he was talking to a couple. The boys didn't know how long it would take, and since they were short on time, they decided that they would look for someone else to question instead.

Tony looked up at the darkening sky. "It looks like there's going to be a storm."

"Good," Joe said. "Maybe the river will flood again and we won't be able to leave. Even Debbie Clarke won't be able to make us go then."

"You're the one who started this!" a feminine voice shouted from around the corner. "Your plans for bringing tourists here is what's made her decide to act."

"Sounds like we've just found out where Dr. Hoelt had to hurry to," Joe said. "Her next victim to blame for Nettie's fury. I hope this doesn't mean that I'm not her number one enemy anymore."

"Give it a break, Joe," Frank told him.

The three boys went to the corner and looked to see whom Dr. Hoelt was confronting this time. It was a tall, thin, shabbily-dressed man. Frank thought he looked vaguely familiar, and guessed that he must have been one of the people hanging around when the boys had arrived the day before.

"Just save it, Doc," the man was saying, waving the irate woman off. "According to you, everyone is to blame for this nonsense. We're all sick of it."

"That makes me feel less special," Joe commented, and Frank and Tony both rolled their eyes.

Dr. Hoelt noticed the boys' arrival and glared at them. "I thought I told you to leave."

"That was less than ten minutes ago," Frank reminded her. "We haven't had time."

"Just all of you remember what I've told you," Dr. Hoelt said. With a snort and an angry toss of her head, she marched off in the other direction.

"Wow, I think she hates you even more than she hates me," Joe commented.

The man smirked. "Probably. She's hated my guts ever since I started trying to build a souvenir shop and boat rental business, hoping it would draw in tourists to our isolated neck of the woods. I'm Jason Cortney."

"Why is that?" Frank asked.

"I s'pose because my parents named me that," Cortney replied with a grin. A second later, he added, "I know what you meant. Amber Hoelt hates people, basically. She comes here to get away from people and she doesn't like the idea of more of them coming here. She's one to talk, though. She wants to turn Willowa Lake into a state park, and that'll bring in just as many tourists as my plan would. Oh well. Takes all kinds, I guess. I'll see you guys around, okay?"

With that, Cortney headed off in the opposite direction that Dr. Hoelt had taken. The boys watched him go in surprise.

"Strange," Joe commented. "The guy seemed friendly enough, but he sure cut us off abruptly."

"We're never going to solve this mystery today." Tony sighed. "All we've learned is that everyone in town hates pretty much everyone else. We don't even know how any of the mysterious things could have been done. I mean, how could have someone caused our plane to crash? Or was that just a crazy coincidence?"

"It could have been done with some kind of electronic jammer," Joe suggested. "They weren't after us in particular, of course, but they were probably just trying to create another strange, unexplainable occurrence."

"Then what about the bridge and the phone lines and Trevor Beau's capsized boat?" Tony continued.

"The bridge and the phone lines could have just been a natural accident that the culprit is using to their advantage," Frank said. "Maybe even the capsized boat was, too. On the other hand, if the boat incident wasn't an accident, that would mean that Beau had the best opportunity to rig it."

"But why would he do something that dangerous for himself?" Joe asked. "Maybe someone else sabotaged the boat. We should check it out. I wonder where it is."

It wasn't hard to find someone who was able to tell the boys where Trevor Beau's house was. When they arrived, they saw an outboard motorboat lying amongst piled up junk in the front yard.

"That must be it," Frank said. "I wonder if Beau's around."

"What difference does it makes?" Joe asked. "Let's just look at the boat."

They examined the boat, but there seemed to be no damage done to it by being capsized. Frank ran his hand along all the sides of the boat, while Joe peered at the inside of it.

"No sign of sabotage," Frank reported.

"So that means that it was either an accident or Trevor Beau is the culprit," Tony concluded.

"Not necessarily," Joe replied. "Someone might have caused it to tip over without doing anything to it beforehand or else the evidence might have been removed."

"Well, then that doesn't tell us anything," Tony said. "What next?"

Before either of the Hardys could reply, there was a sudden crack of thunder. All three boys looked up at the sky, which had grown very dark with clouds. A flash of lightning streaked across the sky, followed almost instantly by another thunderclap. A moment later, raindrops began sprinkling from the sky.

"Looks like our next move should be to find shelter," Joe said, putting up the hood of his hoodie.

The boys ran through town to Father Percy's house as the rain began to pour. By the time they reached the door, they were nearly soaked.

"Great," Tony said in annoyance, shaking his wet hair out of his eyes. "Just what I didn't need."

"Looks like it's going to be another bad storm," Father Percy commented, coming to meet the boys at the door.

"Yeah," Joe said. "At least our other clothes are dry this time."

The boys changed into dry clothing and then they and the priest sat down in the living room and watched the storm.

"The good news is that we're not going to be able to leave tomorrow," Frank commented. "I hope the storm doesn't cause any other trouble."

"I hope not," Father Percy agreed. "The last thing we need is for anything else to happen that will convince people even more that there's a monster in the lake."

Because of the storm, there wasn't much else to be done that day. The boys spent the evening indoors, talking and playing some friendly pinochle with their host. Although they didn't learn anything pertaining to the case, they still enjoyed their evening.

At around nine-thirty, Father Percy excused himself to go to bed. The boys stayed up later, watching the occasional flashes of lightning that could still be seen in the distance through the window.

"He seems convinced that there's no monster," Joe commented, nodding in the direction of the door through which Father Percy had left the room.

"He's one of the few people in town who aren't just completely freaked, I guess," Frank replied. "But does that fit? You're a Catholic, Tony. Don't Catholics believe it's possible for a place to be haunted by demons and such?"

"Yeah," Tony said, "but it doesn't happen very often. As in, seldom enough that your typical Catholic is going to pretty skeptical if you tell them a place is haunted. Almost as skeptical as you guys."

Frank nodded. "It makes sense, then."

Joe smirked. "How about Dr. Hoelt's 'guardian spirit' theory? How does that jive with Catholic beliefs?"

"It doesn't," Tony said flatly. "I mean, there are guardian angels, but that is absolutely not what Nettie is. Angels aren't really cute, little winged cherubs, but they definitely do not go around terrorizing people and half-killing them."

"I think that's the key," Frank said, changing the subject. "What happened to Danny Welling. If we could figure out why it happened, we'd probably know who did it."

"The perp could have picked on Danny at random," Joe suggested. "You know, just to freak everybody out extra. If he doesn't have any particular enemies and isn't on any particular side of the land dispute, then an attack on him would be equally terrible to everybody."

"That's true," Frank admitted, "but maybe they didn't choose Danny at random. Maybe he learned something that somebody didn't want him to know. They could have done it to keep him quiet."

"So you're saying that Danny might know what's really up with the lake monster?" Tony asked. "If that's the case, why did he tell you it was the lake monster that attacked him?"

"Maybe that's not what he meant," Frank mused. "He was pretty shaken up and only partly conscious. Maybe when he said it was the lake monster, he meant it was because of the lake monster."

"I think you've got it, Frank," Joe said excitedly. "We need to ask Danny about it as soon as possible."

"Except he's in a hospital probably a couple hundred miles away," Frank pointed out. "As much as I hate to admit it, I think we'll have to let the FBI handle this one."

Joe grimaced. "An awful thought. All the more awful because you're right."

"I wonder if Danny's been able to talk yet," Tony said. "Maybe he has and the FBI already have the case all cleared up."

"We'll have to ask tomorrow," Frank started to say. He was going to say more, but whatever it was, he forgot all about it as he glanced out the window. "Guys, look at that."

Joe and Tony followed his gaze out the window toward the lake. Two ghostly lights were shining out in the middle of it, seemingly unaffected by the wind and the waves it was causing. An involuntary shudder ran down each boy's spine.

"What could be causing it?" Tony asked.

Frank was about to reply, but once more he was interrupted. A shrill, feminine scream came from down by the shore of the lake.

 _A/N: Thank you for reading this far! I would especially like to thank Cherylann Rivers, Kdesai, max2013, Torchwood Cardiff, and Caranath for your reviews._


	7. Beneath the Surface

Chapter VII: Beneath the Surface

Frank, Joe, and Tony plunged out into the storm to see who had screamed. The sound had come from down by the lake, so the boys headed straight there. When they reached the shore, they saw a human figure running toward them. As the figure almost ran into them, they recognized Elena Lonewolf.

"What happened?" Joe asked her, as a handful of other people came on the run.

As Ms. Lonewolf tried to collect her wits to tell a coherent story, Frank looked around at the newcomers. The only ones who had put in an appearance were the two FBI agents, Deputy Danver who was dressed in pajamas, and Trevor Beau. They had come running from different directions, and Frank wondered if one of them had caused Ms. Lonewolf to scream.

"Ms. Lonewolf, please try to compose yourself," Agent Clarke said harshly. "We don't have time for hysterics."

Ms. Lonewolf took a deep breath. "It was the creature. She came out of the water and came at me." The woman shuddered. "I screamed and ran."

Agent Clarke shook her head and muttered something under her breath that sounded like, "I should have known."

Joe looked out at the lake. He didn't see any sign of the monster either on the shore or in the water but that wasn't surprising since it was so dark. Joe also noticed that the strange lights had disappeared.

"The monster?" Agent Schneider asked Ms. Lonewolf. "Are you sure?"

"What exactly did it look like?" Frank added.

The woman looked around at her audience. Although her hands were still shaking, she kept her voice steady as she said, "I'm not crazy. I was walking along beside the lake – I like storms and wind and rain. Then the creature came out of the water and came lunging toward me. I didn't think it would hurt me, so I stood still. But then it kept coming at me and it roared, so I ran."

"Are you sure it wasn't a bear or something?" Clarke asked.

Ms. Lonewolf narrowed her eyebrows, as if she found the question personally insulting. "I think I know the difference between a bear and that – that creature. It was much bigger than a bear, with a snaky body and huge eyes. Its whole head looked like it was taken up by the eyes. It had scales and came right up out of the lake. Does that sound like a bear to you?"

"No, not really," Clarke admitted.

"Did you see where it went after you ran?" Joe asked.

"No," Ms. Lonewolf replied. "I thought it was chasing me."

"Did you see two lights on the water just before you screamed?" Frank questioned.

Ms. Lonewolf nodded. "I was just trying to decide what they were when it came out of the water."

"Well, I guess we'd better go check it out," Agent Schneider said with a sigh. "Come on, Debbie."

"Would you mind if we tagged along?" Joe asked.

"We won't get in the way," Frank hurried to add. "Maybe we can even help by holding flashlights or something."

Clarke opened her mouth to protest, but Schneider interrupted her. "I don't suppose there will be any harm in that. You'd better come, too, Danver."

"No way," the deputy replied. "I'm not going anywhere near that lake. Not in the dark, in a storm, right after the monster came up out of it. This isn't a job for the police or the FBI."

"It's your duty," Clarke reminded him.

"I don't care," Danver said. "I'm not going. In fact, I quit. I didn't sign up for monsters when I joined the sheriff's department."

Without another word, he hurried off back toward the center of town. The others watched him go in surprise.

"If that doesn't beat all," Trevor Beau commented. "I knew Danver was on edge over this whole deal, but I didn't think he'd up and quit on us."

"Do you need anything more from me?" Ms. Lonewolf asked the agents. "If not, I'm going to go home."

"We'll need you to show us where exactly you saw the – whatever it is you saw," Schneider told her.

Ms. Lonewolf sighed, but she only hesitated a moment before she led the whole group toward the lake's shore. Trevor Beau followed uninvited, but no one said anything to him.

"It was right here, I think," Ms. Lonewolf pointed the spot out. "Can I go now?"

"Yes." Schneider gave her the go-ahead. "We'll need to talk to you in the morning, though, and ask you a few more questions."

"I'll walk you home, Elena," Beau volunteered.

As the two of them disappeared into the night, the agents began shining flashlights on the ground around where Ms. Lonewolf had indicated. Unfortunately, even though Frank and Joe always carried small flashlights in their pockets, they had been ruined by their unplanned dip in the lake the day before.

The rain was still pouring down, and any footprints were quickly being washed away. Agent Clarke had brought along a small camera, ready to snap pictures of any prints they could find.

"Adam, over here," she called to her partner.

Schneider and the three boys hurried to her side to look at a large print that was still visible on the bank. Its webbed toes and claws were familiar to the boys.

"That looks just like the tracks that were in the Wellings' backyard," Joe said.

Clarke handed her flashlight to Frank while she raised her camera. "It does," she agreed. "What do you think could have made it, Adam? Obviously not a lake monster."

"Obviously," Schneider replied, although Frank was surprised to hear a hint of uncertainty in his voice.

"It's pointing toward the lake, though," Tony pointed out. "Shouldn't it be pointing toward land if Ms. Lonewolf saw the monster coming up toward her?"

"Whatever it was must have gone back down into the water," Clarke commented. "Why don't we have any divers here with equipment? That should have been the first thing we thought of when we heard about the supposed underwater creature."

"Frank and I are licensed divers," Joe volunteered, "and maybe someone in town has diving equipment. I doubt we could track it down tonight, but we could check it out tomorrow."

Clarke gave him a cold look that he could just barely see in the dim light of the flashlights. "Just because you're here now doesn't mean that you're helping with this investigation. It's against every rule in the book to let civilians – especially teenage civilians – do that sort of work in an investigation. We can wait for a diver from the FBI."

"But they won't be able to come until this storm is over," Joe argued. "They probably won't get here until tomorrow afternoon. We could have the investigation over by that time."

"It doesn't matter," Clarke told him. "And that's the end of the discussion. You three get back to wherever it is you're staying and give up any ideas of investigating. You may have had good luck in solving mysteries before, but that's all it was – luck. And luck always runs out eventually."

Joe snorted. "I thought you said you knew all about us and our records as detectives. Nobody could have that much luck."

"I said the discussion was over," Clarke replied. "Go home. Now."

She had a very no-nonsense tone to her voice. Frank tugged Joe's and Tony's arms and nodded at them to tell them they should go. As they walked back toward Father Percy's house, Joe clenched and unclenched his fists.

"What is her problem?" he finally asked. "You'd think she didn't want to solve the mystery."

"No, she probably doesn't want to get in trouble with her superiors," Tony said, adopting a more sympathetic view of Agent Clarke's behavior.

"What do you think about Schneider, Joe?" Frank asked.

Joe shrugged. "FBI agent. What else matters? He's not a suspect, since he wasn't even here when anything happened, until tonight anyway."

"But there is something else," Frank prodded. "Something you think doesn't matter."

By now, they had reached the house. Joe reached out to open the door as he said, "Yeah. At first, he seemed totally efficient and a touch patronizing, like he totally knew what he was doing and as long as he could keep his partner from goofing his interrogations, he thought he could have this all wrapped up in no time. Maybe he didn't even really think it was worth bothering about. Now he seems like he's off his game. It's a little weird, I guess, but then again, who could do their best investigating with that grinch, Agent Clarke?"

"I noticed the same thing," Frank replied. "I just wanted to check to make sure it wasn't my imagination. It's odd. Like you said, it's not likely that either Clarke or Schneider could be behind what's happening, but it still might be worth looking into them."

"Maybe we can prove they're incompetent and get them kicked off the case," Joe said. "Even if we still have to leave, that would be some satisfaction."

Early the next morning, Agent Clarke knocked on the door of Father Percy's house. The priest had already left again, and so it was Frank who answered the door.

"I just came to tell you that we have it all arranged," Clarke said without so much as a greeting. "A helicopter will be here at noon bringing an FBI diver. You and your friends will be taken to Spokane on the chopper and there you can get a flight back to Bayport."

"Oh," Frank replied, and added with a touch of sarcasm, "Thanks for letting us know."

"You don't have a choice in the matter," Clarke told him. "You'll be on that chopper. I suggest in the meantime that you mind your own business."

Frank closed the door, glad that Joe hadn't been there to waste time arguing with the agent. He glanced at a clock on the wall. Seven o'clock. That only left five hours to work.

Immediately, Frank rounded up Joe and Tony and told them what the situation was. Predictably, Joe wasn't happy about it, but Frank was able to calm him down by telling him that they didn't have time to waste.

"I say we check out the bottom of that lake with or without Clarke and Schneider's approval," Joe said. "There's bound to be someone here with diving equipment."

Frank agreed to the plan without argument, although Tony was a little more hesitant. They decided to try asking Trevor Beau for the loan of the equipment, partially because he was the only person in town besides Father Percy whom they knew where he lived.

When they arrived at Beau's house, however, he was less than pleased to do as they asked.

"I don't think diving in the lake is such a good idea just now," he told them. "It's too dangerous. Besides, even if Nettie doesn't get you, I'll bet those FBI people will kill you if you do."

"We'll be careful," Joe assured him. "We've got to get to the bottom of this mystery, and the best way to do that is to get to the bottom of the lake."

Joe's attempt at a joke was lost on Beau, who frowned. "No. I won't do it. If you want to kill yourselves, I can't stop you, but I don't have to help you either."

He closed the door, and the boys looked at each other, disappointed at the setback. Just then, they heard a voice calling their names from behind. They looked over their shoulders to see Jason Cortney waving to them from the porch of the house directly across the street. A new hope dawning on them, they went over to talk to him.

"What do you want with Trevor Beau?" Cortney asked. "It didn't look like he was being too friendly to you. In my book, that's a point in your favor."

"You really don't get along with your brother-in-law, do you?" Joe said.

Cortney rolled his eyes. "No need to waste time talking about him. Do you guys need something?"

"I don't suppose you have any diving equipment?" Frank asked.

Cortney grinned. "So you want to do some monster hunting, huh? I sure do have some equipment you can borrow. Heck, if you can prove to all the dingalings around here that there are no monsters haunting that lake, I'd give you anything you ask for."


	8. The Claw of the Beast

Chapter VIII: The Claw of the Beast

"You guys are sure this is a good idea?" Tony looked nervously over his shoulder into the trees behind him. "I don't really want to get into trouble with the FBI too bad."

"Don't worry about it," Joe assured him. "If you do your job right, Clarke and Schneider aren't going to know a thing about it."

He and Frank were putting on the diving equipment they had borrowed from Jason Cortney. They had gone out to where the woods came right down to the edge of the lake so that they could have some privacy. While Frank and Joe swam to where Elena Lonewolf had seen the monster the night before, Tony would stand guard and ward off anyone who came too close.

"Okay, I'm ready," Frank said. "How about you, Joe?"

Joe gave him a thumbs-up and both of them dove down into the water. Tony watched them disappear before the surface, feeling strangely apprehensive. He didn't really believe in the monster – but there was something strange going on. He could almost feel danger in the air.

He looked up at the sky. It was still overcast and looked as if it planned to rain again. Maybe that was what he was feeling. He remembered Frank telling him before that low barometric pressure and the dull gray colors of a rainy day could do that. Tony shivered. Even if their doom wasn't upon them and it was just raining, he still didn't like the feeling he had.

Remembering he was supposed to make sure nobody came too close, he looked around him. He saw Adam Schneider walking along the shore, talking into a handheld radio, but his back was to Tony so he didn't seem to realize he was being watched. In fact, as Tony watched him closer, he doubted that Schneider would have noticed anyway. He seemed very intent on his radio conversation.

Unfortunately, Schneider was too far away to hear what he was saying, no matter how hard Tony strained his ears. That didn't keep Tony from seeing that Schneider was walking along with his face pointed downward, looking at his feet, and his free hand waving wildly around in the air. Whatever the conversation was about, the agent was obviously not too happy about it.

Tony's thoughts were suddenly torn away from Schneider when he heard something in the bushes behind him. He whirled around, expecting to see Debbie Clarke or one of the suspects sneaking up on him. Instead, he caught a glimpse of a huge, scaley creature looming above him on its hind legs just before it swiped one of its clawed forefeet at him. The claw caught him on the side of the head, and that was the last he remembered.

Frank and Joe went straight toward the bottom of the lake and then went along the shore toward the area where Elena Lonewolf had had her encounter with the monster. Between the overcast sky and the natural murkiness of the water, it would have been too dark to see anything if underwater lights hadn't been part of the equipment that Jason Cortney had loaned to the boys. Even as it was, they could mostly only see mud and underwater weeds.

After awhile, Frank stopped and held up his hand to tell Joe to stop as well. He thought this was about the right place. From here, they went down deeper toward the middle of the lake. There were more weeds and more mud and some impressively huge boulders, but nothing that showed any signs of a monster.

As they swam, Joe saw a movement out of the corner of his eyes. He jumped, but then he realized that it was just a fish. Feeling a little sheepish for being nervous, he kicked harder to catch up with Frank again.

Their lights didn't illuminate very far in front of them. Before they knew it, they were confronted by a massive obstacle. Both boys started at that, but a moment later they realized that it was their sunken plane. It occurred to Frank that even if they didn't find the monster, they could possibly learn something about how the plane was sabotaged.

He swam through the still-open cockpit door and began looking over the controls. He knew that that probably wouldn't tell him what the trouble was, but without tools it was the best he could do.

Joe followed him inside the plane, but he went behind the seats, thinking that their luggage would still be there. Even if some things had been ruined by the water, at the very least their spare clothes should have still been good. However, when Joe looked, he didn't see any of the bags the boys had brought along.

Puzzled, he went to the pilot's seat where Frank was still looking around. Joe pointed at the gauge on his oxygen tank, and Frank nodded. They were running low on air and needed to head back toward shore if they didn't want to be forced to surface in the middle of the lake.

A few minutes later, Frank and Joe clambered out of the water onto the shore close to where they had set out from. As they took off their oxygen masks and began pulling on their regular clothes, Joe brought up the one strange thing he had found.

"All of our bags were gone," he told Frank. "Do you think they could have floated out somehow?"

Frank shook his head. "I doubt it. Definitely not all three of them. Someone or something must have moved them out."

"I hope Nettie doesn't burst the seams on my t-shirts trying to wear them," Joe joked.

Frank smiled, but he said, "Seriously, though. Why would anyone dive down to our plane to steal our clothes of all things?"

"They could have been removing evidence of the sabotage somehow," Joe suggested. "They might have seen the bags and decided to take them in case there was something valuable in them."

"Maybe," Frank replied, but he wasn't convinced. Suddenly, he realized something odd. "Where's Tony? Why didn't he come to meet us when we surfaced?"

Joe looked around as if he expected Tony to be standing behind him. "That's weird," he muttered. Then he shouted, "Tony! Hey, Tony! Where are you?"

"That's one way to make sure everyone in Willowa Lake knows where we are," Frank said. "Let's look for him."

Leaving the diving gear behind them, they went in separate directions, calling Tony's name more softly than Joe had before. After a short search, Frank spotted a hiking boot in front of him. His heart beating faster, he ran the last few steps toward it.

"Joe! Over here!" he called.

The boot was still on Tony's foot. Tony himself was lying on his side, unconscious, with blood oozing from his temple.

Joe came on a run and stopped short when he saw Tony. "What happened?"

"I don't know," Frank said grimly. "We'd better get him back to town."

They lifted Tony carefully and between the two of them carried him in the direction of town. They had no sooner left the trees than Amber Hoelt came running toward, asking what had happened. Adam Schneider followed nearly on her heels, putting a radio onto his belt as he ran. Just then, Tony groaned and opened his eyes.

"Let's set him down, Joe," Frank said.

"Are you okay, Tony?" Joe asked anxiously.

Tony blinked a couple of times before he said, "Yeah. Thought I was a goner, though."

By now, the scene had attracted the attention of several more people and they came hurrying to see what was going on. Father Percy, Trevor Beau, and Debbie Clarke were among them.

"What happened here?" Schneider asked. He looked at Frank and Joe's wet hair. "You didn't go diving in the lake, did you?"

Ignoring the question, Frank focused his attention on Tony and asked him, "Did someone hit you?"

Tony sat up and put his hand to his head, but he winced. "Not someone. Something. It was the monster."

Frank and Joe looked at each other in astonishment. How was this possible?

"What have I been telling you all?" Trevor Beau said in excitement. Almost too much excitement, Joe thought. "How many attacks by this beast is it going to take to get you to realize it's out there?"

"Everyone calm down," Agent Clarke ordered in an authoritative voice. "There's some reasonable explanation for this. It was probably a bear."

"It wasn't a bear," Tony insisted.

"Bears aren't responsible for everything in the wilderness, Debbie," Schneider said.

Beau turned to the other people who had gathered around. "I say this has gone far enough. This is the third person to have been attacked or nearly attacked by that monster in as many days. None of us are safe as long as it's alive. I say we kill the beast!"

"Okay, Gaston, just don't break into song on us," Joe said.

Beau turned to him with narrowed eyes. "It was your friend who was attacked this time. I would think you'd care more than to make jokes. What does your friend say?"

Tony was recovering a little and he smiled weakly. "Well, I don't really want to hear you sing, either."

"Why would you want to kill poor Nettie anyway, even if you could?" Dr. Hoelt asked. "This is her home, and she has every right to defend it."

"In case you haven't noticed, Doctor, this is our home, too," Beau replied through gritted teeth. "Why in your twisted world does some animal have the right to defend its home but human beings don't even have the right to defend their lives?"

"If you want to be safe, why don't you just leave?" Dr. Hoelt demanded. "That's all Nettie wants."

"Then it's time for Nettie to learn that you don't always get what you want," Beau said.

"Hold on," Father Percy broke in. "I'm sure there's some way to settle this besides arguing. Why don't we talk it over reasonably?"

"There's nothing to talk over," Agent Clarke said. "There's no monster and there aren't going to be any mobs going to hunt an imaginary creature down, not when there are real potential killers out there."

"Nettie is real," Dr. Hoelt insisted. "Just because you're too narrow-minded to see it doesn't take away from her reality. As Shakespeare said, 'There's more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."*

Clarke rolled her eyes. "You do realize that Hamlet was the one who said that, and that he was crazy?"

"Debbie," Schneider warned his partner. He looked around at the gathered crowd. "Why don't all of you just go about your business while we sort this out? Mr. Beau, do not go hunting for the so-called monster. If you do, I will arrest you for obstructing an investigation. Do you understand?"

"Yeah," Beau replied sulkily.

He and the others wandered away reluctantly, leaving only the Hardys and the FBI agents gathered around Tony.

Schneider turned to Tony. "How's your head? Do you want to see a doctor?"

"I think I'll be fine," Tony told him. "I guess, though, if we have to leave anyway, it won't hurt to go to a doctor."

"About that," Schneider said, looking at his partner. "There's been some mix-up with the helicopter. It and our diver won't be here until probably around five."

Clarke groaned. "Can't anyone do anything right? From the looks of you two, though, you can probably already tell us what's at the bottom of the lake?"

"What makes you think that?" Joe replied with exaggerated innocence.

"Never mind that just now," Schneider said. "Tony, what did you mean that it was the lake monster that attacked you?"

"Exactly what I said," Tony told him. He looked at Frank and Joe with a half-apologetic glance. "It came up behind me, and I only saw it for a second before it hit me. It was huge – at least nine feet on its hind legs. It looked just like Ms. Lonewolf said – big eyes, scales, claws."

"But it couldn't have been, Tony," Frank protested. "There's no such thing as monsters."

Tony shrugged helplessly. "It was the most real-looking fake monster I've every seen."

"If it was real, it left tracks," Joe said. "Let's go look."

*William Shakespeare's _Hamlet,_ 1.5 167-168


	9. Through the Trees

Chapter IX: Through the Trees

Joe jumped up to head off back to where they had found Tony not many minutes before. Agent Clarke grabbed him by the arm to stop him.

"Hold on there, kid. You and your brother get your friend to bed. We'll go investigate any tracks."

"But –" Joe started to say.

"No buts about it." Clarke held firm. "Take your friend inside."

"Don't argue, Joe," Frank said.

The three boys watched as the two agents disappeared into the trees. Then Frank and Joe helped Tony to stand up.

"Aren't we going to do something, Frank?" Joe asked, as they helped Tony toward Father Percy's house. "I mean, this is personal. It was bad enough when they wrecked our plane, but this is something else."

"Don't worry. We're going to do a lot," Frank assured him. "Tony, are you sure it was a monster that attacked you? Nine feet tall, scales, the whole bit?"

"I know it sounds crazy," Tony said, "but I'm positive. I can barely believe it myself, but that's what happened."

"Could it have been someone in a costume?" Joe asked, grasping at any straw he could think of.

Tony shook his head and sighed. "Nine feet tall? No way."

The boys were silent as they walked the rest of the way to Father Percy's house, each trying to reconcile the extraordinary event with reason. When they got to the house, Frank insisted that Tony take the bed that Frank had been using, rather than resting on the couch.

"You'd better just take it easy," Frank told him. "We'll be back by the time that chopper gets here, and if you want to leave then, we won't argue."

"Guys, I want to know what's really going on as much as you do," Tony assured him. "I don't want to go the rest of my life wondering if it really was a monster that slugged me or not. If you can think of a way to stay off of that chopper this afternoon, I'll be all for it."

"That's the spirit, Tony!" Joe said. "What have you got planned for now, Frank?"

"We're going to check out those tracks for ourselves," Frank replied. "We'll be fine as long as we don't run into Schneider and Clarke."

"Is there anything I can do?" Tony asked.

"Just rest," Frank told him. "If you're feeling better by the time we get back, then you can do more."

He and Joe headed back out to the spot where Tony had met with misfortune. It took them only minutes to find more of the now-familiar webbed clawprints. Before they started following them, Joe held his foot next to the print to compare the sizes.

"These prints could have been made by a human wearing some kind of special footwear," he commented.

Frank nodded. "There's still the height problem. Do you think that Tony was just imagining that his attacker was taller than he really was? It sometimes happens when people are frightened."

Joe turned the possibility over in his mind. "I doubt it. Tony's too level-headed for his imagination to run away with him like that. We'll just have to solve this mystery to know for sure, I guess."

The two boys began following the tracks. Just like at the scene of Danny Welling's attack, the monster tracks stopped after a dozen yards or so and were replaced by boot tracks.

After walking for about three minutes, Frank suddenly pulled up short. "You notice something strange, Joe?"

"Nettie's feet shrank and she started wearing boots?" Joe guessed.

"No," Frank replied. "There's only one set of footprints."

"So?" Joe asked. "There was only one person faking the monster."

"But what about Schneider and Clarke?" Frank pointed out. "There should be three sets of tracks."

Joe smacked his forehead with his hand. "You're right, Frank. If they're not following these tracks, what tracks are they following?"

"I think it's time to start seriously considering those two to be suspects," Frank said.

"But how?" Joe asked. "They weren't here until sometime yesterday morning. There's a lot of stuff they couldn't have possibly done."

"They could have an accomplice," Frank said. "I know, it's far-fetched. They couldn't count on being the ones who would be sent out here, but there's something weird going on with them."

"That's for sure," Joe agreed.

They continued walking, following the tracks. After awhile, the tracks met up with a path. Both Frank and Joe thought the path was familiar, and they realized that it was the same one they had followed the day before when they had been looking for Danny Welling.

"I hope these tracks aren't going to lead over the side of the cliff again," Joe said.

To their mingled disappointment and confusion, that was exactly where the tracks led. They went over in the same place the tracks from yesterday had.

"I don't get it," Joe said, looking over the canyon wall. "You just barely were able to climb down there without a rope. How come somebody's using this place for a highway?"

Frank shook his head in bewilderment. "I don't get it. There must be something at the bottom of that canyon. I didn't actually look around when I was down there. We'll have to go down again."

"Too bad we didn't think to bring a rope," Joe commented.

"I made it once without one," Frank said. "We can do it again."

Tony slept for nearly two hours before he woke. His head still felt like it was splitting open, but he didn't want to spend any more time in bed. He couldn't stop thinking about the monstrous form that had attacked him. He knew it what he'd seen was impossible – but that's what he saw.

His thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door. With a groan as a stab of pain went through his head, he got up to answer it. He found Debbie Clarke standing on the porch.

"What are you doing out of bed?" she asked.

Tony shrugged. "There's no one else here. What do you want?"

"To know why you lied," Clarke said.

Tony blinked. "What? I didn't – What do you think I lied about?"

Clarke rolled her eyes. "Your attack. What else? There was no monster. Admit it."

"If it wasn't a monster, it was something that looked exactly like one," Tony said. "I know it doesn't make sense, but it's the truth."

"Mm hmm." Clarke didn't look impressed. "Your head injury's real enough, but that's the only part of your story that holds any water. There were no tracks, no sign of any monster. I'm giving you one more chance to answer. What really happened?"

Tony's head was still throbbing and he was not in the mood to deal with this interrogation. "I told you what happened. What would I have to gain by lying?"

Clarke snorted. "I'll tell you what you'd have to gain. I don't know what exactly happened to you, but it happened while you and those Hardy kids were diving in the lake. You lied to distract us so that we wouldn't ask about what you did and what you found. That's what you had to gain."

Tony sighed. He didn't want to tell on his friends, but he figured he didn't really have a choice in the matter. "Okay. Frank and Joe did dive in the lake, but I'm telling you the truth about the monster. It came up behind me while they were underwater."

The FBI agent eyed him closely as he said this. When he'd finished, she nodded. "All right. If you're sticking to that story, I guess there's nothing I can do about it. What did your friends find in the lake?"

"I don't know," Tony told her. "We didn't have a chance to talk about it. That's all I know, and really, my head is killing me. If you want to ask any more questions, you'll just have to come back later."

He closed the door and turned the lock. He felt a momentary pang of guilt; it went against his nature to be rude, even to someone as rude as Agent Clarke, but right now, his head hurt more than his conscience.

The climb down the canyon wall was managed with no major mishaps. Even so, Frank and Joe were relieved when they reached the bottom. Joe looked up to where they had climbed down from.

"It'll be a job getting back up there," he said.

"Yeah," Frank agreed. "Maybe we'll find another way up. Now let's find those tracks back.

It wasn't hard to pick up the same trail of bootprints that they had been following in the mud at the bottom of the canyon. They went to the left, toward where Frank had found Danny Welling the day before and plunged deep into the trees.

Here the trail would have been next to impossible to follow if it hadn't been roughly following a deer trail. The trees were so thick that they had blocked much of the rain and the ground was a great deal drier here. There were also more weeds and grass, which made it difficult to make out what prints were there. Frank and Joe walked along in silence, concentrating on the ground in front of them.

After about fifteen minutes, the trail dipped down to cross the shallow but fast-moving creek at the bottom of this spur of the canyon. The banks of the creek were very muddy and bare of any kind of growth. Seeing them made Frank and Joe stop and simultaneously groan in disappointment.

"There aren't any footprints," Joe said. "Whoever it was must not have come this way after all."

"But where else could have he gone?" Frank asked. "The trees and undergrowth are so thick around here, there aren't many other places he could have gotten through."

"Say, maybe that's it," Joe suggested. "He probably broke some branches and stuff getting through. We might be able to pick up his trail again after all."

Frank agreed that it was worth a try, and the boys began to backtrack, keeping a careful eye out for any sign that a human might have broken his way through the brush. They were nearly back to where they had started from, when Frank pointed to a bush with several of its slender branches broken.

"This could be it," he said.

Eagerly, Joe plunged down the makeshift trail, with Frank close behind. The brush was so thick here that it wasn't long before Joe spotted another broken branch and then another. Joe pushed forward through the brush.

"Hey, be careful," Frank said in annoyance as Joe let a small branch snap back in his face.

"Sorry," Joe replied, but he didn't slow down at all.

A few minutes passed without either of them seeing any more signs of the trail that they were following.

"We'd better stop and take a careful look around to make sure we're still on the right trail," Frank said, slowing his steps and looking all around him for any sign.

"Wait," Joe replied. "There's a footprint up ahead."

He took a few running steps forward, but was drawn up short by the sound of a snap. Joe fell forward with a cry of mingled surprise and pain.


	10. The Trap

Chapter X: The Trap

It was ten minutes past five o'clock when Tony heard the last sound he wanted to hear: a helicopter landing. Frank and Joe weren't back yet, and while it would have been bad enough for all three of them to be shipped out of Willowa Lake by the FBI, it would be even worse if they made him go by himself. It was even worse again since Tony didn't know what was keeping the Hardys.

There was another knock at the door and Tony went to answer it. This time it was Agent Schneider.

"You ready to go?" Schneider asked.

"It's not like I have anything to pack," Tony replied. "Um, but there is a problem. Frank and Joe aren't here, and I don't know where they are."

"What?" Schneider sighed. "That shouldn't surprise me, I guess. They didn't say where they were going?"

"They're following the tracks that whatever it was that attacked me left," Tony told him.

"Ah, yes, the non-existent tracks," Schneider said. "Debbie told me she already came to talk to you about them, but you stuck to your story."

"It's the truth," Tony insisted. "I don't know why you couldn't find them. Frank and Joe must have had better luck, though. They've been gone for hours."

"Well, come on anyway," Schneider said. "We'll send your friends after you when they turn up."

Tony bit his lip, trying to decide whether he should argue or if he should give up. Realizing that there was nothing more to argue, he unwillingly chose the second option.

"Just let me grab my other shirt," Tony said. "And I suppose I should also give these boots back. Oh, and since you can't wait, I need to write a note to Father Percy to thank him for letting us stay with him."

"Okay, just hurry," Schneider replied.

Tony turned to go, but then he looked down at his feet. "I don't suppose you have any shoes I could borrow, do you? I can leave them for you with the FBI in Spokane."

"Yeah, sure, you can borrow my extra shoes," Schneider told him. "Now let's get going."

A few minutes later, Tony was following Schneider to the FBI helicopter. Debbie Clarke, the pilot, and another agent were standing next to it, waiting for them.

"Where are the other two?" Clarke asked.

"He says he doesn't know," Schneider replied. "Says they're following the monster tracks."

Clarke groaned in frustration. "What is with this story? There is no monster and there are no tracks."

"There are," Tony insisted. "I don't –" He paused, his brow furrowing as he realized something. "How did you even know where to look for the tracks?"

"Adam knew," Clarke replied, but she evidently caught what Tony was getting at. "How did you know, Adam?"

Schneider looked momentarily nonplussed. Then he said, "I saw Tony up in the trees a few minutes before his friends came, carrying him out. I assumed that must have been where he saw the supposed monster. I could have been wrong."

"That should have been close at least," Tony replied.

"Can you show us exactly where it happened?" Clarke requested.

"Sure," Tony told her. "Follow me."

He led the four agents up into the trees along the lakeshore. He recognized the spot where Frank and Joe had gone down to the water, and from there was able to find the place where he had been keeping watch. As he looked at the ground, though, his confusion heightened.

"This is the place, but you're right that there aren't any tracks," he said.

"Then where did your friends go?" Clarke demanded.

"I don't know," Tony replied, completely baffled and beginning to be a little worried. "They must have found something, though. They've been gone for hours."

"Hours?" Clarke asked. "Exactly how many hours?"

Tony quickly added it up. "Over seven hours by now."

Clarke frowned, and one of the newly arrived agents asked her, "What do you make of it? Sound like trouble?"

Clarke nodded. "It could be. You can't follow tracks that aren't there for seven hours. We'd better ask around and see if anyone else knows anything. If not, we'll need to start a search."

"Are you sure?" Schneider asked. "I mean, they haven't even been gone long enough to be considered missing persons yet."

Clarke looked at him coldly. "I don't believe in monsters, but there's something out there. What happened to the Welling kid was real enough, and it's obvious Tony here didn't fake his head injury. Those Hardy kids have been snooping around this whole time, making themselves prime targets for whoever's behind all this. We'd better find them ASAP." She turned to the helicopter pilot. "How much fuel do you have in the chopper, Mike?"

"I filled up right before I left," he replied.

"Then you've got enough for the trip back and then some, right?" Clarke asked.

Mike nodded. "At least an extra hour's worth of flying."

"In that case, stick around," Clarke told him. "Depending on how this goes, we might need a chopper for the search. We'd better round up some locals who know their way around here, too, to help us on the ground search."

Joe caught himself on his forearms when he fell, landing squarely on a rock that was going to leave a nasty bruise. However, he barely noticed that; his right ankle was screaming in protest at its pain.

"Joe!" Frank exclaimed, and Joe felt him crouch down next to him.

Being careful not to move his leg, Joe twisted himself around to see what had happened. A sick feeling came into his stomach when he saw his ankle firmly clasped in a steel animal trap.

"Frank," Joe said, trying to keep his voice from shaking but failing. "Get it off. Just – just get it off."

"Stay calm, Joe," Frank told him. "I'll have it off in a second."

His face pale and his hands shaking, he took a closer look at the trap that his brother had accidentally stepped into. Fortunately, he noted, it didn't have any teeth. He knew that jagged toothed traps were illegal, but he also realized that if the person who had set it was the one behind the monster, then he or she didn't care about whether a thing was legal or not.

Frank grabbed the levers on either side of the trap and tried to push them down, which would open the trap's jaws. They were too tight to be pressed opened by hand.

"Could you hurry?" Joe asked, gritting his teeth against the pain.

"I've got it," Frank replied, hoping that he really did.

As he tried to use his feet to open the levers on the trap, he heard something moving in the brush ahead. Instinctively, he paused to listen.

"Frank, please hurry," Joe said.

Frank caught a glimpse of red in the trees in front of him, a shade that could only be a person's shirt.

"Shh," he told his brother, getting down on the ground next to him. "There's someone coming."

The same thought occurred to both boys. If the person who was approaching was the one who had set the trap, they might not be friendly. They might be dangerous.

"You'd better hide," Joe whispered to his brother.

"No way," Frank replied.

"If it's the person behind the monster, there's no sense both of us being caught," Joe reasoned. "We'd have a better chance of both of us getting away with you free. And if it's someone harmless, there's no harm done if you hide."

Frank couldn't argue with that. Wordlessly, he crept under the cover of one of the nearby bushes. Fortunately, he was wearing the hoodie that he had bought in Willowa Lake. It was brown and made for good camoflage.

Joe also stayed low and quiet, his ankle throbbing. He wondered if it was broken, like what always happened in movies whenever someone stepped in a trap. Although he hoped that it wasn't, he realized that it was not going to be a fun walk out of there either way and he had no idea how he was going to climb back up the side of the canyon. He wouldn't have to worry about that, though, if the person coming toward him intended to kill or capture him.

The seconds seemed to drag on as the Hardys waited for the mysterious person to arrive. He or she never did. Frank finally dared to stand up and look around, but the person had apparently gone off in another direction.

"I think we're clear," Frank said, coming back to Joe's side.

Joe smiled faintly. "It probably was someone who doesn't have anything to do with the monster and could have helped us."

"It might have been," Frank admitted, "but with everyone around here so freaked out, I wouldn't count on it. Let's get you out of here before they come back."

He then went back to work on the trap. After another couple of minutes, he managed to get the jaws open and Joe pulled his foot out.

"That's a relief," Joe said.

"Is it broken?" Frank asked.

"I don't know," Joe replied.

He pulled the leg of his bluejeans up so that he could see his ankle. The skin wasn't broken, but there were red marks on either side where the jaws had snapped closed and it was already swelling in earnest.

"Do you think you can stand?" Frank asked.

"I can try," Joe said.

With Frank's help, he got to his feet, but it hurt too much to put any pressure on his injured leg. His face pale and drawn with pain, he sank back down to a sitting position.

Frank frowned. He knew that getting out of the canyon was going to be hard on Joe, and it would be exhausting for him, too. He'd have to half-carry Joe all the way back to town.

Joe was thinking the same thing. "Maybe I should stay here while you go back for help," he suggested.

"No," Frank told him with no uncertainty. "We've got to find a way for both of us to get out of here."

They thought about this difficulty for a minute or two before an idea came into Frank's mind.

"Both times, the tracks that we saw were only going down into the canyon," he pointed out. "Whoever made them must get out somehow. Maybe there's another way out somewhere farther along. It might be easier. It certainly can't be harder than climbing back up the canyon wall."

"Good idea," Joe said. "At any rate, we can still find out what's so interesting down here to bother climbing down."

Frank helped him up again, and Joe put his arm around his shoulders, leaning heavily on his brother as he hopped along next to him. Frank walked slowly and helped Joe along, but it was still difficult for both of them. Before long, they had grown tired.

The slow pace made it easy for them to look for and spot the signs that told them they were on the right track – broken brush, partial footprints, freshly-overturned stones, and other things of that sort. To their relief, they didn't see the red-shirted person again.

They continued like this for half an hour. Frank doubted that they had even gone half a mile in that time. Finally, they thought they saw something among the trees ahead of them. As they came closer, they saw that it was a small cabin.

The boys paused and looked at each other. The cabin might belong to the culprit, but on the other hand if someone was living there they would doubtless be able to tell them an easier way to get out of the canyon. They had to decide whether to risk it.

 _A/N: Thank you so much for reading, following, and reviewing! I would especially like to thank everyone who has left reviews: Cherylann Rivers, KDesai, max2013, Torchwood Cardiff, Caranath, and Drumboy100._


	11. Cornered

Chapter XI: Cornered

Tony tapped his foot impatiently. It was after seven now and still the FBI agents were wasting time, scarcely making a move to start look for Frank and Joe. The sky was growing dark – it looked like another storm was on its way. With a frustrated sigh, Tony let his aching head rest on the table he was sitting at, wondering why it had to take the FBI so long to do anything.

Not that the FBI reinforcements were all bad. In fact, they were a pleasant change from Clarke and Schneider. Mike Severns, the helicopter pilot, and Hunter Youngman, the diver, were both polite and professional and seemed genuinely interested in helping out.

That might have been speeding things up a little, but not very much. Schneider insisted that they ask around to make sure Frank and Joe really weren't anywhere in town before they started a full-scale search, and he didn't have a hard time convincing Clarke to agree. Once they had satisfied themselves on that point, they started looking for local people who could help them in the search, both as guides and as extra pairs of eyes. That was what was really taking awhile.

Jason Cortney immediately volunteered to help, even offering the use of his beagle as a tracker. Father Percy had also offered to come along, although he said that he had never had much time to go exploring in the area and wouldn't be much help as a guide. Other than that, not a single person was willing to help.

Right now, Tony was in former deputy Danver's office listening as the agents were arguing with Danver over whether or not he should accompany them.

"It's not my problem anymore," Danver said. "I quit. I'm not responsible anymore."

"You haven't officially quit until the paperwork is all filed," Clarke told him. "We've been in contact with the sheriff of this county. We know for a fact the paperwork hasn't even been started."

"I would have started it if I'd been able to get out of here," Danver replied. "I'm not going into those woods."

"The sheriff said you're to help us on the search," Youngman said. "I spoke to him on the radio twenty minutes ago. It's your duty to come along."

"I'm not going," Danver insisted. "The worst the sheriff could do is fire me."

"It actually could be a lot worse than that," Youngman told him.

"I'll say," Clarke snorted. "You could have criminal charges filed against you."

Danver paled a little at this prospect, but he remained resolute. "I'm not going into the wilderness."

"What are you so afraid of?" Severns asked. "You've been trained for more dangerous situations than this. I realize that you don't see many criminals in a small town like this, but –"

"That's just it," Danver interrupted him. "I'm trained to deal with criminals, not supernatural monsters. I know you all think everyone in this town has completely lost their minds. I would have agreed with you a week ago. But you haven't been here. The very air around here feels oppressive."

"It's been raining," Clarke said. "That's just the way it feels when the barometer drops."

Danver shook his head. "No, there's more to it than that. A lot more. There's –" He stopped.

"There's what?" Youngman encouraged him. "What is it?"

"Amber Hoelt," Danver said, but he didn't elaborate.

"That quack professor?" Clarke asked. "What does she have to do with anything?"

"She – she said she wouldn't be surprised if the monster came after me next," Danver admitted.

Clarke threw back her head with a groan of disgust. "You're afraid of a monster just because some psycho with a PhD theorized that it might be coming after you?"

Tony, thoroughly impatient with this conversation spoke up. "I don't think it means anything when she says that. She told my friend Joe basically the same thing and from the way she argues with everyone, she's probably said it to half the town. Still, if we don't get a move on, what she said about Joe might still come true."

"He's right," Severns agreed. "We've only got a couple more hours before sunset, and those woods are already starting to get dark. Let's not waste anymore time."

"It won't do any good to go looking tonight yet," Schneider said. "Like Mike says, we've only got a couple of hours we could search anyway. We'll only use up energy for nothing. I say we get to bed now and be ready to go at sunrise."

"You're going to wait another whole night!" Tony protested, his heart sinking at this suggestion. "But what if something's happened to them?"

Youngman patted him on the shoulder. "Adam has a point. We won't find them tonight anyway. We'd do a lot better starting out in the morning. Strange as it might seem, waiting and getting some rest might even help us find your friends faster."

"To save even more time, let's line up our search parties and divide up the area right now," Schneider said. "Do you have a map of the area around here, Danver?"

Danver listlessly pointed at a file cabinet behind Schneider. Severns opened one of the drawers and searched through it. After a few moments, he pulled out a map and laid it on the desk.

"All right, so we've got three locals who are coming along," Schneider said. "We'll divide the area in quarters. Debbie will go with Cortney and his dog in the southwest corner. I'll take Father Percy and search the northwest corner. Hunter and Danver can take the northeast, and Mike can take the southeast in the helicopter. Sound good to everybody?"

"No," Danver replied. "I'm not going. You can't force me – you've got no right."

Clarke put her hand to her forehead. "Danver, just shut up already. You're going along and that's final."

"What about me?" Tony asked. "Can't I come?"

"You can go with Mike in the chopper," Schneider said.

"I'd rather go on foot," Tony replied. "The copter's only going to be able to be in the search for an hour or so, and I wouldn't be able to stand sitting around doing nothing after it has to land."

"How about you come with us?" Youngman suggested.

"Maybe an extra person along will help ward off the big, bad monster, Danver," Clarke said in a mocking tone.

"Should we go check it out or not?" Joe asked, looking at the cabin in the trees and still leaning hard on Frank's shoulder.

"I think so," Frank said. He wiped some sweat off his forehead. "We're not going to get very far like this, and I think it's worth taking that chance that someone might live there who will be willing to help us. But you should stay here while I go look."

"Why?" Joe looked at him with a trace of suspicion. He didn't like it when Frank was trying to protect him.

"Because if Nettie's in there, I can run a lot faster than you can right now," Frank replied, trying to say the sort of thing that Joe probably would.

Joe recognized the effort and smiled a little. "Guess I can't argue with you there. I'll wait right here."

He sat down next to one of the numerous trees in the vicinity, while Frank made his way toward the cabin. Because the forest hadn't been cleared at all and the trees and brush grew right up next to the building, he was able to get very close and still be confident that he hadn't been seen. It also kept him from getting a really good look at the cabin until he was practically at the door.

Once he was able to see what the cabin looked like, Frank's hopes were dashed. It was in rundown and unkempt condition, and he doubted that anyone lived there. On the other hand, that probably meant no enemies lived there either. He went up to one of the windows and peered inside. Except for a few dusty bits of furniture, it was empty.

Frank went back to where Joe was waiting, not bothering to be quiet or cautious this time. He told his brother what he had found.

"So there's no help in there, no directions, and not even any food," Joe commented glumly.

"'Fraid not," Frank replied. At the mention of food, he realized that he was hungry, too. "It might not be a bad place to stay for the night, though. I hate to say it, but I don't think we're going to get out of here today."

"I'm way ahead of you on that one," Joe said. "I've been thinking the same thing."

With Frank helping Joe, they made their way to the cabin. Fortunately, the door didn't have a lock on it and they were able to go right in. Frank picked the least decrepit-looking chair and let Joe sit down into it.

"Do you think the woodstove still works?" Joe asked.

"Doesn't matter if it does. We don't have any firewood." Frank went over to look at it anyway. He opened it and looked inside. A strange expression crossed his face.

"What is it?" Joe asked.

"Someone put the wood and kindling in here to make a fire, but left it," Frank replied.

"Great!" Joe said. "That way, if it rains again tonight, at least we can have some heat."

Frank reached in and pulled out the front page of a newspaper. "Joe, this newspaper was only printed five days ago."

"Really?" Joe held out his hand, as if he wouldn't believe Frank until he saw for himself. After he looked at the date on it, he shook his head in confusion. "You're right. That means someone was in here in the last few days. But if that's the case, then why is it so bare and dusty in here?"  
Frank ran his finger along the back of one of the chairs and then bent down to look at the floor. "It is dusty, but the dust looks disturbed in places. Someone must have come in here but didn't bother to dust."

"Now that you mention that, there aren't any cobwebs on the furniture either," Joe noted. "Just up in the corners."

The room was small, and there was only one door leading out of it besides the front door. Frank pushed this other door open to find a small bedroom with two musty beds in it. Something sticking out from under one of the beds caught his attention and he picked it up. It was a bright blue, empty duffel bag.

"Does this look familiar?" he asked, coming back to the door and holding it up for Joe to see. It was more of a rhetorical question than anything else – he already knew the answer.

"That's my duffel bag!" Joe recognized it immediately. "It was in the plane. So whoever was here must also be the one who snatched our luggage out of the plane. But why? Is any of our other stuff in there?"

"Hold on. I'll check." Frank went back into the bedroom and looked under both beds, but didn't find anything else besides some mice.

"Whoever it was must have vacated the place," he said, coming back into the front room.

"I wonder why, and who," Joe mused. "Do you think it was that red-shirted guy? And that he was the one who set that trap, too?"

"It wouldn't surprise me," Frank replied. "This must be what he was coming down here for. Why would have he left before we even came near the place?"

"It doesn't make any sense," Joe said. "Unless – you don't suppose this is another trap, do you?"

The idea alarmed Frank, but he told himself to stay calm and think. "I doubt it's a trap. That guy wouldn't have had any way of knowing we were coming here, at least not after you stepped in the trap. And even if he did suspect that we'd come here, he couldn't have set a bomb or anything, because he wouldn't know the time. Any other type of trap, he'd actually have to be here."

"I guess so." Joe grinned wryly. "I just can't seem to get traps off my brain."

Frank half-smiled back. "Understandable. Still, just to be absolutely certain, I'll go take a look around outside."

He went out and walked around the house, looking carefully at the walls and foundation for anything that seemed off. When he reached the back, he thought he smelled a faint scent of gasoline. He leaned closer to the wall and realized that the scent was coming from there. He was about to shout when he felt something long poked into his back.

"Don't say a word," a voice softly hissed from behind him.

He was cornered.


	12. The Cabin

Chapter XII: The Cabin

Frank froze when he felt the barrel of a gun pressed into his back. For a moment, he desperately tried to come up with some scheme to escape, but he knew it was impossible.

"Put your hands up and then turn around slowly," the gunman whispered, but this time Frank thought he recognized the voice. At any rate, it actually wasn't a gunman.

When Frank turned around, the person lowered the barrel of her .22 rifle for a moment in surprise, but then raised it again. "Frank?"

"Meg?" Frank replied. "What's going on?"

Meg Welling looked confused and unsure what to do, but she didn't lower the gun again.

"What are you doing here, Frank?" she asked.

Frank hesitated, still wondering why Meg looked so unsure of herself. If she was the culprit behind the strange events that had been happening – and that looked like a distinct possibility at the moment – then she shouldn't have been so confused at finding him there.

"Don't you know?" he asked. "We – I've been looking for clues." In case Meg hadn't realized the Joe was there, too, Frank didn't want to give him away.

"Have you found any?" Meg asked. She furrowed her brow and then lowered the rifle. "I guess I'm being silly. Obviously you couldn't be the one who attacked Danny. You weren't even here yet."

"So you're here looking for clues, too?" Frank countered, beginning to readjust his ideas of what Meg was up to.

"Yeah," she said. "Nobody is doing anything, and I want whoever hurt Danny to pay. Did you find any clues?"

"Maybe," Frank told her. She seemed like she was telling the truth, and he decided to trust her. "Since it looks like we're on the same side here, let's go inside and talk this over."

They went around to the front of the cabin and went inside. Joe looked up in surprise when he saw Meg come in the door carrying a rifle. Meg looked just as surprised to see Joe with his face drawn in pain and his ankle swollen.

"What happened to you?" she asked. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," Joe replied, using the universal "fine" that doesn't necessarily mean "fine". "What are you doing here?"

"It looks like Meg has been doing some investigating herself, so I think we can all get a few answers that we didn't know beforehand." Frank grabbed the back of Joe's chair and dragged it over next to one of the windows. "Before we get started, though, we'd better make sure no one can come here without us seeing them." He went to stand next to one of the opposite windows. "Now, you start, Meg. Why are you running around the woods with a gun?"

"Because I'm not running around them unarmed," Meg replied. "Not with murderers and who knows what else around."

"Why are you running around the woods at all?" Joe asked. "I thought you were afraid of the lake monster. You didn't even want to go and look for your own brother. Besides, if what we've heard about this monster is true, you'd have to be a pretty good shot to stop it with a .22."

"Maybe you'd better just start from the beginning," Frank said.

"Okay," Meg replied. She took a deep breath. "I know I've been silly about the monster. It's just – you don't understand how it is to have your brother disappear and don't know what happened to him."

Frank and Joe looked at each other. They did understand exactly how that was, but they didn't interrupt Meg's story.

"Nothing was making sense," Meg continued. "The idea that there really was a lake monster didn't make sense, either, but it didn't sound so impossible at the time. Then, earlier today, Agent Clarke told me that they got the results from testing the blood that they found in our backyard. It wasn't human blood; it was pig blood."

"That's even weirder," Joe said.

"Not really," Meg told him. "There are a lot of butcher shops in this part of the world. Someone could get some blood from one of them. Not without some questions, but it could be done. I knew then that there wasn't any monster."

"That could be the lead that could crack this case," Frank said. "Wherever that blood came from, the butcher must remember who got it, or at least what they looked like. That must person must be behind all of this."

"You're right," Joe replied, looking excited. Then his face clouded with disappointment. "The FBI has probably already looked into it. They might have the case solved by now."

"Solved, but not all wrapped up," Frank corrected him. "Still, go on, Meg. What prompted you to come poking around here with a gun?"

"After Agent Clarke told me about the blood, Agent Schneider stopped by and told me that he'd heard from the hospital," Meg explained. "He said that Danny wasn't in any danger, but he's still unconscious. It made me mad that this happened to Danny. There's no reason for it. So I decided I'd come and investigate myself."

"You're positive that no one would have any reason to hurt your brother?" Frank asked. "He doesn't have any enemies? What about with all the disputes about the land around here?"

"No," Meg said. "Mom and Dad stay out of those disputes, and Danny and I do, too. None of them are getting anywhere, and they're just making life miserable for themselves and everyone else."

"You must have an opinion about the whole thing, though," Joe stated.

"Of course I do," Meg replied. "I'd like for everything to stay the way it is now, and that's how Danny and Mom and Dad feel, too. But we all keep quiet about what we think. I don't know that anyone else realizes what our opinions are."

"There could be rumors," Joe mused. "In a town this size, the gossip can be nasty and it gets around fast."

Meg nodded slowly. "That could be. But why go after someone because of a rumor? Why not go after someone who's outspoken about their ideas?"

"Maybe someone had a personal grudge against him," Joe suggested, but Meg shook her head.

During the last few minutes, Frank had been thinking on a completely different line. Now he took his opportunity to speak up. "How did you know to come here, Meg?"

"Elena Lonewolf told me that you found Danny down here," Meg replied. "She also said she wondered if Danny hadn't been held prisoner in this old cabin and had wandered out to where you found him. I thought I should take a look."

"Elena Lonewolf told you this?" Frank asked pointedly, a suspicion beginning to take shape in his head. "Did she know you were coming to investigate?"

"No – well, at least I didn't say I was," Meg told him. "She could have guessed, I suppose."

"What are you thinking, Frank?" Joe asked, recognizing the look Frank had on his face.

"You could be right about there being a trap here, Joe," Frank replied. "It's just not meant for us. Someone splashed gasoline on the back wall of this cabin. If Elena Lonewolf knew that Meg was coming her, maybe the trap's been set for her."

Meg's eyes grew wide. "Why didn't you say so before? You mean Elena's has this place rigged to blow up?"

"She can't do anything from long-distance," Frank assured her. "And since neither Joe or I saw her, she's probably not sneaking around outside. Still, to be on the safe side, maybe it's about time we clear out."

"Please, let's do," Meg begged. She looked like she was ready to bolt right out the front door.

Frank helped Joe up and all three of them went outside. Meg was running up ahead, but once they'd gotten a little distance between them and the cabin, Frank called for her to stop.

"Why?" Meg asked, stopping but not making any move to come back.

Frank let Joe sit down on the ground. "If someone is planning to blow that cabin up, we should wait and see who it is."

"But if they're trying to kill us – or me, or whatever – they might succeed if we stick around," Meg protested.

"We'll be fine," Frank assured her. "There are three of us, and you've still got your gun. Someone would have to be pretty desperate to bother us."

Meg looked down at the rifle that she had clutched in her right hand. "Okay, but I hope you guys realize that I really don't want to use this."

"Most people don't," Frank told her.

"Besides," Joe said. "It's getting late now. I don't know if Meg has a shortcut out of this canyon, but it would have to be really short for us to get out of here today. We might as well camp out here as anywhere else."

Frank and Meg also sat down on the ground, and they watched the cabin and the surrounding area intently for any sign of someone else coming. In quiet voices, Frank and Joe told Meg about what had happened up to now.

"I guess I was wrong when I said nobody was doing anything," she admitted. "It sounds like you guys have been doing plenty."

Over an hour passed and it began to grow dark. There had been no sign of any person approaching the cabin.

"Maybe I was wrong," Frank said finally. "It doesn't look like anyone intends to blow that cabin."

Meg shifted uncomfortably. "Then can we go? I had no idea that stakeouts were so boring."

Joe grinned. "'Boring' is the name of the game with stakeouts. We can't give it up yet, though. Something still might happen."

Several more hours passed. By now it was very dark and Frank could barely make out the shape of the cabin ahead of him. Meg had long since lain down on the ground, using her arms for a pillow, and now was breathing rhythmically in sleep. Joe, too, was leaning against a tree with his eyes closed.

Frank stretched his back and his arms. It looked like they were going to be here all night at this point. He reasoned that he might as well let Joe sleep now so that he could take a shift watching later in the night. As Frank was thinking that, Joe shifted his weight and winced at moving his injured ankle. Frank realized he wasn't asleep.

"Might as well get some sleep now," Frank told him. "I'll wake you up later when I get tired."

"Why don't you sleep now?" Joe countered. "I'm not having any luck falling asleep."

Frank reluctantly agreed to this arrangement, but it was some time before he actually closed his eyes.

It was sometime past midnight when the stakeout finally paid off. Joe wasn't sure of the exact time, since both his watch and his phone had bought it in the emergency landing in the lake. He had just been examining his ankle again to try to determine whether it was broken or not, when he heard something rustling through the brush.

He froze. He knew that it was likely to be a deer or some other wild animal, but on the other hand it might not be. Getting to his knees – and wincing as he did so – he looked around to try to spot whatever was making the noise. There was a little moonlight even in the trees, and he thought he might be able to see something.

His eyes caught a flash of movement. He focused on that area and a second later he thought he saw something red disappearing behind the darkened bulk of the cabin. As he was about to awaken Frank, the air was rent with the deafening sound of an explosion.

* * *

 _A/N: Thank you so much for reading, following, and reviewing! I would especially like to thank everyone who has left reviews: Cherylann Rivers, KDesai, max2013, Torchwood Cardiff, Caranath, Drumboy100, and Peyton._


	13. Destroyed Evidence

Chapter XIII: Destroyed Evidence

Frank jumped to his feet as the explosion jolted him out of sleep. At the same moment, Meg screamed.

"Shh!" Joe warned her, although he knew that it was too late for the warning to do any good. "Frank, there's someone in a red shirt sneaking around by the cabin. Well, what's left of the cabin."

Frank looked toward the cabin, which was now a flaming conflagration. He could feel the heat from where he was. For a moment, he was tempted to go try to catch the person, but then he thought better of it.

"No time for that now," he said. "We've got to get out of here. That fire's probably going to spread to the trees nearby."

He helped Joe to his feet and they all began heading away from the fire as fast as they could. Unfortunately, that was nowhere near as fast as any of them would have liked, since Joe could still do no better than limp while leaning on Frank's shoulder for support.

"I'm slowing you down," Joe pointed out.

"Don't waste your energy suggesting that we leave you behind," Frank told him. "If that fire does spread, we wouldn't be able to outrun it anyway. We've got to get someplace safe. Meg, do you know this place well enough to say whether there is anywhere with only rocks or even where the creek is wide and deep?"

Meg bit her lip. "Danny's spent a lot more time exploring down here than I have. The creek is deep everywhere now with all the rain, and I think it widens out a little down this way."

Frank and Joe followed her and they soon reached a part of the creek that was wider than the rest. They stopped next to it.

"I guess this will just have to do," Frank said. "If the forest does catch on fire, we can get in the creek and with a little luck we might make it."

"You sure don't make our chances sound very good," Joe replied, sitting down and grimacing. All of this walking and running wasn't doing his ankle any favors.

"I wish it would start raining again." Meg looked up at the cloudless sky in disappointment.

"It wouldn't help that much if it did," Frank told her. "Not with a fire of that size."

"Shh! What's that?" Joe said suddenly.

All three strained their ears. It sounded like there was a helicopter flying nearby.

"Do you suppose it's the feds in that copter they were sending, looking for us?" Joe asked. Then he grinned. "It sounds a little out of character for us to be out in the woods, worried about the feds looking for us."

"At this point, I wouldn't mind if they found us," Frank replied. "It's too bad we don't have anything to signal with."

"They will find the fire, at least," Meg pointed out. "Maybe they sent the helicopter to put it out."

"I hope so," Joe said. "I don't want to get shipped out of here too bad, but I admit that does beat getting burned up."

"Do you think it was Elena Lonewolf trying to kill me?" Meg asked. "Who blew up the cabin, that is."

Frank shook his head. "I don't think that person was trying to kill anybody. They must have known that the cabin was empty."

"Maybe they were trying to destroy some evidence," Joe suggested.

"That can't be," Frank told him. "There was no evidence in that cabin."

"There was my duffel bag," Joe replied ruefully. "We forgot it in there."

"That's not enough to blow the entire cabin for," Frank said. "They could have destroyed that in a much less dramatic way."

"What if there was more evidence that we didn't find?" Joe asked. "There might have been something hidden under the floorboards or something like that."

"Could be," Frank agreed. "We didn't think of that. Now we'll never know."

Just then, a sudden idea popped into Joe's head. "Maybe we will. Meg, you said earlier that Danny has spent a lot of time exploring down in this canyon?"

"Yeah," Meg replied. "He's always poking around everywhere. What does that have to do with anything?"

Frank had caught onto Joe's idea immediately. "That might be why he was attacked. He must have seen something down here that could have caused the perpetrator behind the monster a lot of grief."

"He might have even looked around in that cabin," Joe added. "He might have found the thing that's the reason someone destroyed that cabin."

"He didn't mention finding anything out of the ordinary," Meg said.

"He might not have realized it was out of the ordinary," Frank told her. "It's possible he didn't realize what he'd seen was important, but whoever's behind this didn't want to take the chance of him putting it together."

"But what could have he seen?" Meg asked. "The monster costume?"

Frank shook his head. "No, there's more to it than that. I think the monster is just a distraction."

"There's one way to find out," Joe said. "We need to talk to Danny."

"Agent Schneider said he's still unconscious," Meg reminded him.

"He's got to be waking up sooner or later," Joe replied, "and when he does, he might be able to clear up everything."

* * *

Tony didn't sleep well that night. Besides having spent so much of the afternoon sleeping, by now he was way too worried about Frank and Joe to let his mind rest. Something had to have happened to them for them to be gone so long, and Tony felt like the FBI agents were wasting time.

There was an electric clock in the room with the time showing up in bright, red numbers. Tony watched the minutes slowly tick by as he fingered a rosary he kept in his pocket. There was nothing else he could do.

The display on the clock read 12:34, then 12:35. As it turned over to 12:36, the sound of a muffled explosion came to Tony's ears. He sat straight up in bed, wondering what it could be.

He didn't waste much time wondering. Immediately he climbed out of bed and jammed his feet into the shoes he had borrowed from Adam Schneider. They were uncomfortable being old and a little small for Tony, but he ignored that and he ran outside and down the street toward Deputy Danver's office. He met Hunter Youngman on the way.

"Did you hear an explosion?" Youngman asked.

"Yeah," Tony said. "It sounded like it came from a ways away."

"Look!" Youngman pointed toward the northwest. "Smoke! There's a fire."

"Where?" Tony asked. He looked in the direction Youngman had pointed but he didn't see anything.

Youngman was already running back down the street from where he came from. Tony followed.

"Mike! Mike!" Youngman shouted as he ran.

They were soon met by the other three FBI agents, as well as several of the townspeople.

"You've got a fire to the northwest," Youngman explained. "Mike, can you rig up that chopper of yours with a bucket?"

"Sure thing," Severns replied. "As long as there's a bucket."

"The town owns a bunch of firefighting equipment," Trevor Beau spoke up. "When you live out in the backcountry, it's not something you can do without."

"Show it to me," Debbie Clarke demanded. "Mike, you go get your chopper ready."

She and Beau ran off in one directions and Severns in another. Schneider and Youngman began talking to each other rapidly, while the townspeople also began chattering excitedly.

"Is there anything I can do?" Tony asked. He was hoping that Frank and Joe hadn't had anything to do with that explosion, but he had a sinking feeling that they were. They were always in the middle of things whenever trouble came.

No one seemed to hear him. He couldn't bear to stand around, not knowing whether he could do anything helpful or not. After a moment's thought, he decided to go see if he could help rig the helicopter up with the bucket.

As he turned to go, he felt someone grab his shoulder. He looked back and saw that it was Elena Lonewolf.

"The smoke is coming from the canyon where we found Danny Welling," she pointed out. "Do you think your friends are there?"

"I don't know," Tony replied, not appreciating the woman's tactless question. Then he narrowed his eyes. "But maybe you would."

Ms. Lonewolf looked down. "I don't know about them."

The wording of the answer seemed odd to Tony. "Who do you know about?"

"Meg Welling," Ms. Lonewolf almost whispered. "I – There's a cabin there and I think she's going to investigate it. I haven't seen her since she asked me about it yesterday."

Tony looked around the crowd. Although it was dark, there was some moonlight and several of the people were carrying flashlights so that he could make out a number of faces. Sure enough, Meg Welling wasn't among them. It didn't necessarily mean anything, but there was no point in taking chances.

"Agent Youngman?" Tony said. When he had the agent's attention, he went on, "Ms. Lonewolf here says there might be a girl up where that explosion happened."

Youngman looked up at Ms. Lonewolf. "Tell me everything."

She repeated the story she had told Tony without adding or elaborating on any details. Youngman and Schneider, who was still on hand, listened with grim faces.

"We'd better tell Mike to get a move on," Youngman said.

"I'll go," Schneider volunteered. "In fact, I'll go with him."

Tony followed him over to the helicopter, where Schneider told the other agents about the new situation.

"There's no need to panic," Clarke spoke up. "Someone go make sure the girl's missing. You take off anyway, though, Mike. We can radio whether she's here or not."

"I'll go check on her," Tony said. "I'd like to do something."

"Sure, go ahead," Schneider told him, before Clarke could refuse the offer. "We need to finish getting the chopper ready."

Tony ran toward the Welling house. When it was in view, he breathed a sigh of relief. There was a light on in the upstairs window. It looked like Meg was home after all.

Just to make sure, Tony knocked on the door anyway. He was surprised and puzzled when the light instantly switched off and no one came to the door. A vague feeling of suspicion crept over him.

He tried the door and it was unlocked. As he stepped through it, he heard the helicopter revving up. Being careful not to make any noise, Tony climbed the staircase in the front room and started walking down a short hallway. He thought that the first door on his left was the one where he had seen the light.

Tony reached out and grabbed the knob, but then he paused. Maybe Meg hadn't answered his knock because she was afraid of all the strange things going on. Besides that, he was now trespassing in her house. If he burst in on her in her own bedroom, he would totally freak her out.

Resolving himself that it wouldn't matter whether Meg would ever forgive him or not, Tony pushed the door open. He heard a movement to his left. Without thinking about the possible consequences, he flipped the light on. A figure was crouching in a corner of the room.

"Jason Cortney!" Tony exclaimed.

* * *

 _A/N: Thank you so much for reading, following, and reviewing! I would especially like to thank everyone who has left reviews: Cherylann Rivers, KDesai, max2013, Torchwood Cardiff, Caranath, Drumboy100, and Peyton._


	14. Motive

Chapter XIV: Motive

"How about you tell us the whole story, Cortney?" Debbie Clarke's statement was not a question.

When Tony had caught Jason Cortney sneaking around the Welling house, he had momentarily been unsure of how he could capture Cortney and bring him out to the FBI agents. To Tony's surprise, Cortney hadn't even put up a struggle. In dejection, he went with Tony to where Clarke and Youngman were watching the helicopter fly away with Severns and Schneider in it. After Tony explained to the agents where he had found Cortney, they marched him right down to Danver's office to question him.

Cortney just looked sullenly down at the table instead of responding to Clarke's question. He hadn't said a word since Tony found him, and he didn't look like he intended to change his mind.

"What were you doing in the Welling house?" Youngman asked.

When Cortney still refused to say a word, Clarke said, "I guess it doesn't matter much. It's obvious that Cortney here is behind everything. A confession would make it easier to prove, but we'll prove it all the same."

Cortney looked up at this. "I didn't do any of it. It was – someone else."

"Who else?" Youngman asked.

"I can't say," Cortney replied.

"You can't say because you don't know or because you don't know?" Clarke demanded.

Cortney remained sullenly silent.

Youngman sighed. "At the very least, do you know anything about Frank and Joe Hardy or Meg Welling and why they haven't returned?"

"No," Cortney whimpered.

"Look, we can haul you in right now for breaking and entering and attempted burglary," Clarke told him. "And I can tell you right now it's going to get a lot harder on you if you know anything about those kids and don't say anything. Especially if anything happens to them."

"I don't know anything about it," Cortney insisted.

The interrogation went on like this for a long time, as it seemed to Tony. Clarke or Youngman would fire a question at Cortney and he would either deny being involved in anything or say nothing at all. Finally, Clarke completely ran out of patience.

"We're not getting anywhere," she said. "Hunter, go get that useless deputy and have him lock this guy up. It would save us a lot of trouble if he would just talk, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen."

After Danver had taken Cortney to the one holding cell in the room next to his office, Clarke put her elbows on the table and rested his chin on her hand, looking utterly worn out. Youngman leaned against the wall with a deep sigh. Tony looked from one to the other of them, and then finally asked the question that was foremost on his mind:

"Do you really think Cortney is behind the whole monster thing?"

"It's obvious," Clarke replied impatiently. "There's nothing that has happened that he couldn't have done."

"But there's also nothing that's happened that any of the other suspects couldn't have done just as easily," Tony reminded her. "I mean, I'll admit Cortney looks pretty suspicious sneaking around the Wellings' house in the middle of the night, but somehow he just doesn't fit as well to be behind anything else."

Youngman shrugged. "It would take someone –" He paused, trying to decide on the right word. "-well, unique to think up the idea of making a place look like it's haunted by a monster. That doesn't really seem to fit anyone I've met here."

"Then you haven't met that professor." Clarke half laughed, half snorted. "She's crazy enough to think of an idea like that, but she's too crazy to actually make it work."

Tony could have argued with that idea, given that Clarke was exaggerating Dr. Hoelt's apparent instability, but instead he leaned over and tugged at one of his shoes. After having worn them for several hours, his feet were feeling cramped.

The action attracted Youngman's attention to the shoes. "Those look like they're about to fall apart."

"They feel like it too," Tony replied. "I guess I shouldn't have returned those borrowed hiking boots so soon. They were much more comfortable than these ones of Schneider's."

"Leave it to Adam to have shoes that are ready to burst at the seams," Clarke commented. "He wastes so much money, he doesn't even have enough to buy decent shoes."

* * *

The search party was ready to leave a few hours later at dawn. Severns and Schneider had come back with the helicopter shortly after Clarke and Youngman's interrogation of Jason Cortney, reporting that the fire was out. It had been a cabin that had caught on fire somehow, but they had seen no people in the vicinity.

However, the unplanned firefighting expedition had used up whatever extra fuel the helicopter had had, which meant that it couldn't be used in the search. Cortney's arrest had also cost them one member of their search party.

At first, they debated dividing the area into three sections, so that they could send at least two people into each. However, Trevor Beau then volunteered to join in the search.

"What about the monster?" Clarke raised her eyebrows at Beau.

"I thought you said Jason was behind all of that," Beau replied. "Besides, monster or no monster, I owe you people one. I've been telling people for years that Jason's a low-down thief, and now you've proved it for me."

The search parties were reorganized then so that Schneider and Father Percy would take the northwest corner, Youngman and Tony would take the northeast, Clarke and Danver would cover the southwest, and Severns and Beau would search in the southeast. With that decided, they all set out.

* * *

The pale light of dawn was first appearing in the east when Frank woke up. He was stiff and chilled from the uncomfortable ground and half-starved as he remembered that he hadn't had any supper the night before.

Joe was sitting with his back against a tree and his head tipped at an angle as he slept. Meg was a little distance off, huddled up with her rifle within arm's reach. As Frank stood up and stretched, Joe opened his eyes and looked up.

"Good morning to not be fried to a crisp," he said with a yawn.

"Any morning's a good morning for that," Frank replied. "I guess the fire didn't spread after all."

"It might have died out since everything's so wet," Joe mused. "Maybe not everything burned."

"You're reading my mind," Frank told him. "We should go back and check."

Meg lifted her head and asked grouchily, "What time is it?"

"Probably a little after five in the morning," Frank replied.

"Ugh," Meg said. "Waking up this early is obscene, but it's too cold and uncomfortable to sleep anymore. Let's go back to town."

"We will," Frank told her. "There's something Joe and I have to check out first, though."

Meg groaned. "I'm hungry and I'm cold and I'm all muddy from sleeping on the ground. Can't we just go? Please."

"We want to see if that cabin burned completely or not," Joe told her. "If it didn't, we might find some clue that will help us learn why someone hurt your brother."

"And we might get hurt ourselves," Meg protested. "I thought you said we could just ask Danny when he wakes up."

"That could work," Joe admitted, "but Danny might not remember. He might not have even seen anything, and someone just thinks he did."

"Oh, all right." Meg gave in. "You guys don't seem like you change your minds once you make them up. The faster we get this over with, the faster we can go back."

"How's your ankle this morning?" Frank asked Joe.

Joe ventured to wiggle his foot. It hurt, but not as bad as it did the day before. "It's better. I don't know that I'll be able to walk to far by myself though."

Frank gave him a hand to stand up. Joe grimaced at the pain, but he thought he could manage. However, they hadn't gone many yards before he started falling behind.

"No point giving yourself a harder workout than you need to," Frank told him, coming back and putting his arm around Joe's shoulders.

In a short time, they reached the still-smoking ruins of the cabin. The fire was completely out and, as they had hoped, the cabin hadn't been completely consumed. The front wall and a little bit of one of the sidewalls were still partially standing.

"The walls of this place were so thin, they probably couldn't have hidden anything in them," Frank commented. "That just leaves the floor to inspect."

He stepped out into the ashes, but quickly drew his foot back. Even though the fire was out, the ashes were still hot.

"It looks like some of the floor is still intact," Meg commented. "Let's get this search over with."

She went plunging straight into the middle of the ruins. She had taken several steps before she reached the center. The heat of the ashes came right through her boots and she jumped. When she landed, with a scream and a crash, she fell through the half-burned floorboards up to her waist.

"That's hot!" she wailed. "Get me out!"

Frank rushed to her side and pulled her out of the hole.

"I guess that wasn't too smart," Meg admitted, examining a hole that had been burned in her shirt by a hot ember.

"Maybe not," Frank replied, looking down in the hole, "but I think you found what we were looking for."

"What is it?" Joe asked eagerly.

Frank kicked at a charred board to get it out of the way of his sight. "There are a lot of books and papers down there. How much you want to bet they're important evidence?"

"How do we get them out?" Meg seemed to forget her discomfort in her eagerness to know what this was all about.

"I'll have to climb down there," Frank replied. "Do you think you can help me, Joe? I don't want to touch these ashes or knock them down on the papers. That'd really be a piece of bad luck if they caught fire after all."

"I think I can," Joe told him.

He limped out into the midst of the ruins. Bracing himself against both the pain in his ankle and the heat of the ashes, he helped lower Frank down into the hole.

Frank picked up a few of the books and papers and looked at them in the light coming through the hole. As he realized what these papers were, he whistled.

"It looks like we've just found the motive behind the monster of Willowa Lake," Frank said. "Someone's been processing fake identities here and it looks like they've made a big profit selling them."

* * *

 _A/N: Thank you so much for reading, following, and reviewing! I would especially like to thank everyone who has left reviews: Cherylann Rivers, KDesai, max2013, Torchwood Cardiff, Caranath, Drumboy100, and Peyton._


	15. A Traitor in the Midst

Chapter XV: A Traitor in the Midst

"I don't get it," Meg said, watching as Frank and Joe examined the documents and books that they had retrieved from underneath the ruins of the cabin. "Why would someone be making fake identities way out here? Wouldn't it be more convenient to make them in a city or something?"

"More convenient, yes," Frank told her, "but also more dangerous. They have a smaller chance of their operation being discovered out here, simply since there are less people. Also, it looks like it must be being done by someone who lives in Willowa Lake. In that case, doing it here is convenient."

"This property could even be owned by the perp," Joe rationalized. "Do you know who owns it, Meg?"

Meg shook her head. "No. I'm no good at keeping track of what property belongs to whom. I'm guessing not a rancher, though, since there aren't any fences. Beyond that, I haven't the foggiest clue."

"It shouldn't be too hard to find out when we get back to town," Frank said.

"You said this was the motive behind the monster," Meg reminded him. "What do you mean? How do fake ID's have anything to do with the monster?"

"It's probably a distraction," Frank explained. "Somehow, the 'perp', to use Joe's words, must have realized that someone was getting suspicious. By faking monster sightings and attacks, they figured that people would be too busy worrying about that to investigate, at least until they could move the operation to a new place."

"You think they were using that cabin as a base of operations?" Meg asked. "Wouldn't they need someplace that at least had electricity?"

"Yeah," Frank replied. "They're probably actually making the ID's somewhere in town and were just using this place as a place to keep an extra set of records, in case they would have to destroy the records in town."

"When we started poking around," Joe added, "they must have decided they needed to destroy the evidence they have here. A plan which, fortunately for us, backfired. If it hadn't been for that fire, we probably would have found these records."

"But this still doesn't tell us who did it," Meg said. "You're sure there's no names on any of those papers?"

"Not one," Joe replied. "At least, not one real one. For this operation to work at all, the perps'd have to be smarter than to plaster their name all over everything."

"So this must be what Danny saw," Meg commented. "Why didn't he tell me? Things would have made so much more sense if I'd just known."

"What do you mean?" Joe asked.

Meg blushed a little. "I have a confession to make. I haven't been completely truthful with you guys. When Danny first disappeared, I – I was a little worried because I didn't know for sure, but for the most part I was just pretending. See, a couple days before the bridge was washed out, Danny got a threatening note from someone. He said he didn't know what it was about, but we decided he should leave town for a little while to be on the safe side. When he disappeared, I thought he'd done that at first."

"Without telling you?" Frank asked incredulously.

"Yeah, well, I didn't know," Meg said. "To be honest, I didn't think there was anything to the note. That's something that only happens in movies, right?"

"Obviously not," Frank replied. "What did the note say?"

"I don't remember exactly," Meg admitted. "I'll show it to you when we get back to town. I think Danny put it in one of his dresser drawers."

"Speaking of heading back to town," Joe said. "Let's do it. I think we could all use a meal and some of the great indoors. Besides, Tony's probably frantic by now."

The others agreed without protest and they started back. Joe walked along as well as he could, although he still had to lean on Frank's shoulder before they'd gone too far. They hadn't gone much farther again when they heard a click behind them. All three instinctively paused, knowing exactly what the sound was: a rifle being cocked.

"Stay right where you are," a man's voice said behind them. "You drop that gun, girl."

Obediently, Meg set her own rifle on the ground.

"All right," the man said. "Now turn around and go where I told you."

Frank, Joe, and Meg turned around and saw that the man holding them at gunpoint was wearing a red shirt and was over six feet in height, but none of them recognized him. He prodded them along with the gun, and after awhile they reached a natural cavern. The man told them to go inside.

The inside of the cavern had some basic furniture – a bed, table, and chair – as well as three lanterns for light. There was something piled up underneath a tarp in one corner.

"Sit down on the ground," the man ordered them. When they obeyed, he handed some lengths of rope to Meg. "You tie up your two friends, and when you're done, I'll tie you up."

"Sorry, guys," Meg said as she began wrapping the rope around Frank's wrists.

"It's not your fault," Frank assured her. "We should have been more careful all the way around."

When Meg had finished, the man bound her hands and feet and then inspected the job she had done with Frank and Joe. He didn't seem to find any of the knots satisfactory and pulled them all a great deal tighter.

"Now I'll just have to wait for orders to know what to do with you," the man grumbled, sitting down in one of the chairs. "I'd better be allowed to do more to you than I did to that Welling kid or you guys' pal."

He was interrupted by someone coming into the cavern with a drawn handgun. "What's going on in here?" the newcomer asked.

It was Adam Schneider. The prisoners all heaved a sigh of relief. They were safe now.

* * *

By now, Tony and Agent Youngman had been hiking around their section of the search area for hours. Youngman was carefully keeping track of where they were and where they'd been with a hand-held GPS.

Between having gotten very little sleep the night before, having been knocked out less than twenty-four hours ago, and walking for such a long way already this morning, Tony was beginning to feel worn out. Nevertheless, he had no intention of complaining and possibly holding up the search in any way. It had already been held up enough.

Youngman checked his watch and saw that it was nine o'clock – time to check in with the other three search parties. All of them reported no luck yet.

"I wish we had more people out here looking," Tony said. "This is a big area for eight people to cover on foot."

"No kidding," Youngman replied. "Adam radioed the local sheriff's department and they said they couldn't have a search and rescue party out here until this afternoon. So help is coming, but it'll still be a little while."

"I wonder why it's going to take so long," Tony commented.

"I don't know." Youngman looked a little troubled. "It's all volunteer out here, so it takes a little while to get everybody gathered up. Still it shouldn't take that long."

"It seems like everything is taking forever on this case," Tony replied. "The only ones who have just gone ahead and done anything without a million delays are Frank and Joe."

"At this point, it's too bad they did," Youngman said. "Then we wouldn't have to waste all this time looking for them."

"It's not a waste of time," Tony corrected him. "By the time we find them, they'll have the whole mystery solved and the crook captured."

Youngman grinned. "That would make our job easier. Seriously, though, most likely they're just lost."

"No way," Tony replied. "Frank and Joe have way too much experience in the woods to let themselves get lost. Besides, they had a trail to follow, although I admit I don't know what happened to it."

"It's pretty weird," Youngman agreed. "I suppose someone might have removed the tracks by splashing water over them. The ground was so wet the tracks wouldn't have been to hard to get rid of that way. But that doesn't explain why Debbie and Adam didn't find them."

"Maybe they weren't looking in the right place," Tony suggested. "Neither one of them asked where I'd been attacked. Schneider said he saw me up in the trees, but he was far enough away, he could have made a mistake on the exact location."

"Probably super Agent Clarke decided if she couldn't find them on the first try, they weren't there," Tony said. Then he added, "No offense if she's a friend of yours."

Youngman chuckled. "Hardly. We all groan whenever we have to work with her. We've complained to the powers that be, but all they ever do is reprimand her, and all that does is make her even more unbearable."

"At least I'm not the only one who doesn't like her," Tony replied. "Is Schneider always her partner? You've got to feel kind of sorry for the guy if he is."

"He usually is," Youngman replied. "The rest of us joke that the real reason he's always having to borrow money from us is because he blows his paycheck at the bars whenever he finishes a shift with Debbie. I don't know how else he can take it."

"Poor guy," Tony said.

"This case seems to be taking a toll on him," Youngman commented. "I guess it figures, though, seeing how he thought he had it all wrapped up, and then it turned out it wasn't."

"What do you mean?" Tony asked.

"Before Mike and I came out here, Adam had reported in that the case was pretty much wrapped up," Youngman explained. "He said he and Debbie had figured it all out and would be coming in, so there was no need to send me or the helicopter."

"Wait. This was yesterday?" Tony furrowed his brow. Something wasn't stacking up here.

"Yeah, that's right," Youngman said. "It was sometime around nine. Then an hour or so later, he radioed in again and said he would need me after all, but not to get there until a little later. There was some kind of hang up that he said he'd explain."

"That's who I must have seen him talking to on the radio," Tony commented, trying to make sense out of this. "He seemed really upset."

"Then that wasn't the conversation," Youngman told him. "I talked to him myself. He was a little sheepish maybe, but not upset."

What had been wrong with Youngman's account suddenly clicked into place in Tony's head. "Schneider said that there was some mix-up on your end, and that was why the helicopter didn't come until five yesterday."

"No." Youngman sounded confused. "Any mix-up was with Schneider."

"If it was a mix-up." The vague ideas that had been forming in Tony's mind for the last few minutes were taking shape quickly now. "Schneider could have also taken Agent Clarke to the wrong spot in the trees on purpose when they were trying to find those tracks."

"You're not saying that Adam has something to do with all of this?" Youngman was taken aback by the idea. "I mean, Debbie might be a friend of mine, but Adam is. He's not the sort of guy who would do something like that."

"It makes perfect sense," Tony insisted. "Schneider's short on money, and he's in the perfect position to keep the investigation from getting on the right track. Naturally, he can't be behind everything, but he could be trying to make sure that Frank, Joe, and you other agents don't figure everything out."

"Now you're saying he was bribed?" Youngman asked.

"It explains everything," Tony replied. A sudden, horrible thought occurred to him. "And he's the one who assigned the areas to the different search parties. He probably knows where Frank, Joe, and Meg are and purposely took that area to keep us from finding them."

* * *

 _A/N: Thank you so much for reading, following, and reviewing! I would especially like to thank everyone who has left reviews: Cherylann Rivers, KDesai, max2013, Torchwood Cardiff, Caranath, Drumboy100, and Peyton._


	16. Another Piece of the Puzzle

Chapter XVI: Another Piece to the Puzzle

When Agent Adam Schneider walked into the cavern with his handgun drawn asking what was happening, Frank, Joe, and Meg looked up at him in relief. Joe expected that their captor would look at him in fear or anger or disappointment, but to Joe's surprise, none of those emotions passed over his face. He just looked a little surprised and then a little annoyed.

"Put that gun away, Schneider," the man said. "What are you doing here?"

Schneider didn't make a move to put his gun away, but he also didn't tell the crook to drop his gun or surrender or anything. Frank and Joe could feel their hopes sinking rapidly.

"What are they doing here, Walt?" Schneider asked, nodding at the three prisoners. "It's dumb move bringing them here. It was dumb enough dragging that Welling kid out into the canyon."

Walt waved him off. "The dumbest thing we did was bring you into the deal. You've done nothing but try to tell us how to run our business."

"You'd do better if you listened to me," Schneider told him, holstering his handgun. "You're just setting yourself up to get caught now."

"It's your job to see that that doesn't happen," Walt argued.

"I can't work miracles," Schneider replied.

"Why don't you just answer the question?" Walt asked. "What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be keeping that search party away from here?"

"That's what I'm doing," Schneider said.

"Funny way of doing it – coming right here," Walt replied.

"All the others are in different areas altogether," Schneider told him. "The only one anywhere nearby is that priest, and he doesn't have a clue what's going on. I told him I'd look here and sent him to look somewhere else."

"Shouldn't you go back to meet him before he decides to come and check?" Walt asked.

"I've got a few minutes," Schneider said. "Enough for you to explain why you've got these kids here and what you're going to do to them."

"They were poking around and found evidence of the ID scam," Walt explained. "There's only one thing to do with them now. Kill them. I'm just waiting for confirmation from Number One."

Schneider shook his head slowly. "No. No, I didn't sign up for murder. The rest of this was bad enough, but this is too much. No. I'm drawing the line on this one."

"Relax," Walt said. "Nobody'll ever connect us to it. We'll make it look like the monster did it."

"That's never going to work," Schneider protested. "You're losing believers in that monster everyday. When it comes to murder – three murders – no one's going to let it rest. I can guarantee that Debbie and the others won't."

"What's with the cold feet all of a sudden?" Walt asked.

Joe couldn't bear to listen in on a conversation for so long without interjecting something. "Yeah, Schneider. If you've already sold out the FBI and decency in general, why not go whole hog with it?"

"Not helping, Joe," Frank said.

"I didn't sell anything out." Schneider spoke through gritted teeth and looked pained. "I just didn't see the harm of letting one case slip through the cracks."

"Especially if you could make some extra cash doing it," Joe supplied.

"But my brother was nearly killed," Meg argued. "How can you just let it 'slip through the cracks'?"

"I –" Schneider started, but Walt interrupted him.

"Shut up. You talk too much. Just get out of here. If you don't, Number One won't pay you dime one, and all of this will have been for nothing as far as you're concerned."

Schneider opened his mouth and looked like he would maybe argue further, but then he closed it again. Without another word, he turned and left the cavern. As he went, Walt picked up a small two-way radio.

"Number Two to Number One," he said into it. He repeated it a couple of times before he got a response.

"Number One," a voice came over the radio finally.

"Trapped three mice," Walt said. "How do I dispose of them?"

"Tonight, usual way," the voice replied. "Out."

Frank leaned over to Joe and whispered, "We're in big trouble."

"No kidding," Joe replied. "With Schneider in on the whole scheme and keeping everyone else away, we're going to have to rescue ourselves."

"He's not going to sit around here all day," Frank said. "Maybe we can escape when he leaves."

"Or maybe he's not supposed to wait until dark to kill us, just to move the, er, evidence," Joe countered. "In that case, we might not have much time."

"In that case, we'd better get think fast," Frank replied.

Both of them looked around the cave, hoping for some flash of inspiration to occur to them. If they sat back-to-back, they could probably get untie each other eventually. That would take time, though, and they stood a good chance of being noticed while they were at it.

"I've got my pocketknife in my front left pocket still," Frank said, "but I can't get to it. I doubt you could either, without looking suspicious."

"At least it means that if one of us gets loose, then the other two can get loose quick," Joe replied. "The problem is for one of us to get loose."

"Maybe he'll fall asleep," Meg whispered hopefully.

"'Fraid that's not too likely," Joe told her.

Frank's gaze fixed on the tarp in the corner. Something green was poking out from underneath it.

"Unless I miss my guess, then monster costume is under that tarp," Frank whispered. "Judging from the tracks, that thing has some pretty mean claws."

Joe nodded. "I see what you're getting at. The trick is getting us over to the tarp."

"If we can get him to decide he needs to separate us, chances are he'll put one of us near it," Frank replied.

"Or he might kill us now to save himself the trouble," Joe pointed out.

Frank grimaced. "Yeah. There is that. I think it's worth a try, though."

"We'd better not make it too obvious what we're trying to do," Joe replied.

Frank backed up until he could reach his brother's hands with his own. He started trying to loosen the bonds while Meg positioned herself in front of them to block Walt's view. It fit in with the plan, since they didn't want Walt to realize that they wanted to be caught. On the other hand, maybe they wouldn't be caught after all, and they could get loose this way.

"What are you doing over there?" Walt asked suspiciously. "I heard quiet a bit of whispering over there, and now you're all quiet."

None of the captives replied. Walt got up and came over to look for himself. He scowled when he saw.

"There's no point trying to escape," he said. "I'll split you up so you can't."

Behind his back, Joe crossed his fingers, hoping Frank's plan would work. Walt grabbed him by the shoulder and dragged him to one side of the cavern – the one opposite the tarp. They were luckier on the second try. Walt grabbed Frank's shoulders and dragged him right next to the tarp.

Then Walt went back to the table and began working on some books. Now all Frank had to do was get one of the pieces of the costume with a claw attached out from under the tarp. With his hands tied and Walt keeping half an eye on him, that was going to be easier said than done.

From where he was sitting, Joe could see his brother's dilemma. He realized that his position would give him the perfect opportunity to cause a diversion. When Walt came over, he would have his back to Frank and it would give Frank the chance he needed.

Joe was sitting next to one of the chairs which was being used as a lampstand. The lantern sitting on it was lighted and from the smell Joe could tell that it used kerosene. That could make an interesting diversion.

Grabbing one of the legs of the chair, Joe tipped the chair over. The lantern fell to the stone and dirt floor of the cavern and the glass shattered. As the kerosene splashed out of the lantern, the flame ignited it.

"What the –" Walt sputtered as the flames leaped up.

He leaped to his feet and started looking wildly around for something to use to put the fire out. Not seeing anything immediately at hand, he started kicking dirt onto the flames to try to smother it.

Frank understood what Joe had done and wasn't about to let the opportunity slip away. He kicked up a corner of the tarp. To his surprise, there was no monster costume underneath it. At least, not a complete costume. There was a pair of boots shaped like over-sized monster feet, complete with claws. Otherwise, the tarp had been covering a pile of traps like the one Joe had stepped in.

Frank didn't waste time wondering where the rest of the monster was. He eagerly began sawing the bonds on his wrists with one of the claws. With a nervous glance over at Walt, he saw that the crook had nearly gotten the fire out by now. He'd have to saw faster.

Walt kicked dirt over the last of the flames, and they died. Then he turned to glare at Joe. Crouching down to be on eye-level with his prisoner, Walt grabbed the front of his shirt and stared him in the eyes.

"What's the big idea?" he snapped.

Joe stole a quick glance past Walt's shoulder at Frank. Frank was stilling working on cutting through the ropes binding his hands. Joe would have to stall Walt a little longer.

He looked back at Walt for a second, and then at the overturned chair and the shattered lantern. The idea of using the broken glass to cut through the ropes occurred to him. Perhaps Walt would believe that that's what he was going for the whole time.

Walt followed Joe's gaze and he seemed to guess what Joe wanted him to guess. "Broken glass. Didn't you think I'd hear the lantern breaking or do you think I'm deaf?"

"Um, well, I thought you might not have realized what I was trying to do," Joe replied. He had to bite back a grin – what he said was actually completely true, and Walt still didn't realize what he had been doing.

"Look, I'm not putting up with any troublemakers," Walt said. "I can't kill all of you just yet, but I can get rid of you if you're going to cause trouble."

"Wait, that's not going to work out so well," Joe replied. "They'll be able to tell I was killed hours before the other two." He stole another glance at Frank, who was cutting the ropes on his ankles with his pocketknife now. Joe just had to stall for a few more seconds. "I have an idea," he said.

"What are you trying to pull now?" Walt asked.

"Uh." Joe scrambled to think of something to say. "If I'm going to get killed, at least I want to get revenge on one of the people responsible. How about you frame Schneider for everything? At this point, I don't think either one of us would mind seeing him get busted."

Frank sawed through the last bit of rope and carefully stood up. He weighed his options. He could try to tackle Walt, but even with the element of surprise on Frank's side, Walt could still overpower him. Frank glanced at the table and noticed Walt's rifle lying on it. That would be the surest way.

"Do you think I'm stupid?" Walt replied to Joe's suggestion. "If Schneider gets busted, he'll squeal on us. I'll get the worst of the whole deal."

Frank picked up the rifle and pointed it at Walt. "On the floor. Facedown. Now."

 _A/N: Thank you so much for reading, following, and reviewing! I would especially like to thank everyone who has left reviews: Cherylann Rivers, KDesai, max2013, Torchwood Cardiff, Caranath, Drumboy100, and Peyton._


	17. Escape Plan

Chapter XVII: Escape Plan

"Is there any way we can contact Severns and Clarke over the radio without Schneider knowing?" Tony asked Youngman.

The FBI agent shook his head. "Tony, I know you're worried about your friends and a little suspicious of everyone, but I know Adam. He wouldn't do that."

"And I'm sure every time someone's told you that a suspect wouldn't do whatever you suspected them of doing, that person was right," Tony pointed out in a roundabout way. "I mean, it's not like people's judgment of their friends and coworkers is ever wrong."

Youngman sighed. "Okay. I get what you're saying, and you're right. I don't like to think of Adam as a suspect, but we can't afford to take the chance."

"So how do we contact Severns and Clarke without Schneider getting suspicious?" Tony asked.

Youngman considered this problem for a minute. "There's no way to call on the radios and be absolutely certain that he's not listening in. Our search area's right next to Adam's. The best thing to do is call for a rendezvous with him."

"And tip our hand?" Tony raised his eyebrows.

"No," Youngman replied. "We'll just get a feel for the situation and maybe get our hands on his radio. I don't like doing this, but I guess we don't have much of a choice." He held up his own radio to his mouth and said, "Youngman to Schneider."

"Schneider. Come in," the reply came after a short delay.

"Tony and I might have found a lead," Youngman answered. "We want to rendezvous with you."

Schneider agreed to that. He gave latitude and longitude coordinates for their meeting spot, and then signed off.

Tony and Youngman began heading toward the designated meeting place, using the GPS to find their way. Youngman was quiet as they walked, and Tony guessed that he probably felt a little guilty to be suspicious of a fellow agent. Still, he was willing to do what needed done and Tony appreciated that.

"What are we going to do when we meet up with them?" Tony asked.

"I'll talk to Adam and take him out of earshot of you," Youngman said. "You talk to Father Percy and see if he's noticed anything that might tell us whether your suspicions are right or not. What we do after that will depend on what we find out."

It didn't take them long to reach the rendezvous point. Schneider and Father Percy were already there. As arranged, Youngman took Schneider aside, as if he wanted to talk to him privately. Father Percy moved over to Tony's side.

"What's this lead that you've found?" he asked.

Tony lowered his voice. "We think Schneider might have been bribed by whoever's been rigging up this whole monster thing. At any rate, I think so."

"What?" Father Percy was surprised. "But he's an FBI agent."

"Yeah, I know," Tony replied. "There's no time to explain. We think he might have divided the search parties up so that we wouldn't be able to find Frank and Joe. Is there any area or anything in particular that he's been avoiding?"

"Not that I've noticed," Father Percy said. "Wait – he did say we should split up for a little while. Maybe that was a way to keep me from going to where Meg and your friends are but still think it was searched."

Tony nodded. "Could be. Do you know what area he was supposed to search then?"

"I can show you on my map," Father Percy told him.

Each member of the search party had been given a map, although only the FBI agents had GPS's. After studying the map for a few seconds, Father Percy took a pen out of his pocket and circled an area on the map.

"I'm pretty sure that's it," he said.

Tony looked up at Youngman and Schneider. The two agents were deep in some conversation, and he didn't think they had seen what Father Percy had been doing.

"Thanks," Tony said, folding the map up and putting it in his pocket. "We'll check this out right away."

Youngman and Schneider finished their conversation and came back to the other two.

"Adam thinks our idea is worth checking out," Youngman told Tony.

"He does?" Tony asked in confusion.

"Yeah, he thinks the caves up by the waterfall upstream from the lake would be a great place for the supposed monster to hide out," Youngman said. "Since it's in their search area, he and Father Percy will go check it out."

"Oh," Tony replied. "Oh, right. Then it's a good thing we thought of it."

The group separated, with Youngman and Tony going back toward their own search area. As soon as they were out of sight, though, they turned around again.

"Didn't he think it was suspicious that we wanted to talk to him in person rather than just radioing to him that we thought of a new search area?" Tony asked.

"No, I told him I didn't radio because I couldn't be sure who was listening in," Youngman explained. "If the caves did turn out to be the hideout, there's no point in alerting the crooks that we're coming. I don't like lying to another agent. You'd better be right about all of this."

"Wouldn't you rather if I was wrong?" Tony asked seriously.

"Well, true," Youngman admitted. "Did you find anything out?"

Tony showed him the map and explained. Youngman nodded in defeat.

"All right. I admit this looks like something. We'll check it out. If we're wrong, though, this will take a few hours away from our search."

"But if we're right, our search will be over," Tony reminded him.

At first, Walt looked like he hadn't made up his mind whether to obey Frank's order to lie facedown on the ground or not. He gripped the front of Joe's shirt tighter, but then gave a groan of defeat and disgust. He lay down on the floor as Frank ordered him.

"Way to go, Frank," Meg said in relief. "I didn't think we were going to get out of here alive."

Frank kept the rifle trained on Walt as he cut Meg's hands free. Since Walt was so close to Joe, Frank didn't dare risk the moment of distraction while he cut Joe free with Walt in arm's reach. Instead, he handed the pocketknife to Meg and told her to release Joe. Once all three of them were free, Joe and Meg tied Walt up, and then Frank leaned the gun against the table again. They now held a whispered conference on what to do.

"Why don't we just leave?" Meg asked.

"It's not going to be a fun trip out of here, not with a prisoner in tow," Frank told her.

"Besides, we've solved part of the mystery, but not the big question," Joe said. "We know Walt here was a hired henchman to help where there needed to be two people and we know that Schneider was bought off to keep the investigation from getting anywhere. But we still don't know who's really behind it all."

"Deputy Danver," Meg replied confidently. "It's got to be him. He's the only one who could get away with it, since he's the only law enforcement in the area."

"He's also the one who called in the FBI," Joe reminded her. "Why would have he done that?"

Meg shrugged. "I'm not a criminal. How should I know?"

"I have an idea," Frank spoke up. "It's risky, but if it works, we'll have our mastermind."

"What's your idea?" Joe asked.

"We keep the gun and the radio well out of Walt's reach," Frank explained. "Then we let him escape. Knowing that the jig is up now, he'll have to run right back to his boss to warn him or her to clear out. We can follow him, and then we'll find out who his boss is."

"But what if he gets away?" Meg said.

"It's a risk," Frank admitted. "But I think it's worth the chance."

"Sounds like a great idea, Frank, except for one little problem," Joe interjected. "I don't think I'll be able to keep up with that guy."

Frank glanced down at Joe's still-swollen ankle. "Right. I'd forgotten for a minute."

"Here's an idea," Joe suggested. "You and Meg go ahead and I'll stay here."

"Are you sure, Joe?" Frank asked. "What if Schneider or the boss shows up and you're here all alone?"

Joe shrugged. "It's no riskier than your plan. There are places to hide here, and chances are neither of them are going to stick around to do a search when they find the place empty."

"Okay," Frank agreed reluctantly. "We're going to have to make the escape look believable if this is going to work. Here's what we'll do –"

Joe and Meg listened closely as he outlined his plan. When he'd finished, they nodded and got ready to play their parts in the scheme. Joe sat down in one of the chairs next to the table and rubbed his ankle.

"I hope you're right about the search and rescue being able to send an ATV out here," he said. "I don't think I can walk out of here."

"What about Agent Schneider?" Meg asked. She sounded sincere, but unfortunately her choice of wording wasn't what Frank had been hoping for. "Won't using the radio alert him?"

"Yeah, I still don't like that part," Joe added in an attempt to salvage the situation. Meg's phraseology made it sound like the idea of Schneider hadn't come up before, which Walt would never believe if they had really been discussing calling the local sheriff's department all this time.

"I know," Frank agreed. "The sheriff's department is on a different frequency than the FBI, though, so there's a chance that Schneider won't overhear." He sat down at the radio and began pretending to turn it on.

"I don't think it will work, anyway," Meg said. "There aren't any trail wide enough for an ATV. A horse, maybe, but not a four-wheeler or anything."

"Well, that's something," Joe replied. "I can ride a horse, so that's not a problem."

"Is there anything you guys can't do?" Meg asked. It wasn't part of the script, but she was genuinely curious.

"Frank can't sing," Joe told her with a grin.

"Very funny," Frank replied, continuing to work on the radio. "Just because you imagine yourself the twenty-first century's –" He didn't finish the sentence as he stared intently at the radio.

"Something wrong?" Joe asked.

"Yeah, it doesn't seem to be working," Frank told him.

"I bet the reception's no good in here," Joe replied.

"He didn't have any problem making a radio call out of here." Meg nodded at Walt.

Fortunately, Walt was taking his cue. While the Hardys and Meg appeared to be distracted with the radio, he had picked up a piece of glass and began using it on his bonds.

"I think Meg's right, but it's worth a try taking it outside," Frank said. "We'd better take the gun along, though; we don't know if one of Walt's pals are going to show up."

"Shouldn't someone stay here and keep an eye on Walt?" Meg asked.

"I'll stay," Joe volunteered. "With my ankle, I don't feel like walking around anymore than I have to."

"All right," Frank said. "Oh, by the way, our missing luggage is over there, under that tarp. Maybe you should look to see if any of it is still any good."

While Frank and Meg left the cave, Joe limped over to the back and began looking at the pile of clothes.

"All my stuff's here, anyway, except my duffel, which is a pile of ashes by now," Joe commented. "Why'd you take this stuff, Walt? There wasn't anything valuable in it, and it would have been way more of a pain that it was worth to dive for it."

Walt snorted but made no other reply. Joe then began sorting through Frank's and Tony's things, trying to see if anything immediately stood out to him as being missing. He didn't know for sure what they had had along, though, so it was impossible for him to tell.

He heard a noise from closer to the entrance of the cave. He turned around to see Walt, now untied, standing up.

"Hey!" Joe shouted as Walt made a dash for the entrance.

Joe limped after him. When he got to the entrance of the cave himself, he saw Walt disappearing into the trees and a moment later Frank and Meg following him. So far, the plan was working.

* * *

 _A/N: Thank you so much for reading, following, and reviewing! I would especially like to thank everyone who has left reviews: Cherylann Rivers, KDesai, max2013, Torchwood Cardiff, Caranath, Drumboy100, and Peyton._


	18. The Monster of Willowa Lake

Chapter XVIII: The Monster of Willowa Lake

After Frank and Meg had gone off to follow Walt, Joe had little else to do, so he went back to examining the luggage. He couldn't imagine what possible reason anyone would have for stealing their clothes. Then he discovered something in Tony's bag – Tony's rifled through wallet.

There was no money in it, which hardly surprised Joe. After all, for someone who's dishonest already, it would be natural to keep even the petty cash Tony carried around rather than just let it lie. However, there was something much more interesting missing, namely Tony's driver's license. It wasn't really missing, though. After a brief further search, Joe found it buried under some of Tony's shirts.

"That explains it," he said to himself.

Just then, he heard the sound of footsteps approaching. Joe flung himself behind the pile of traps and luggage and pulled the tarp over himself, hoping that whoever was coming wouldn't search too hard if they turned out to be unfriendly.

"Hey, look at this!" he heard a familiar voice call from the entrance of the cave.

Joe pulled the tarp from his head. "Tony?"

"Joe?" Tony replied and ran toward where Joe was sitting. "You're all right. What happened to you? Where's Frank? Have you seen Meg?"

"Yeah, I'm mostly fine," Joe told him. He nodded at the man who had just come in the entrance. "Who's that?"

Tony instinctively looked over his shoulder even though he already knew the answer. "That's Agent Hunter Youngman from the FBI. Youngman, this is Joe Hardy."

"I'm glad we found you, Joe. We've been looking for you, your brother, and Meg Welling," the agent said, but he didn't look terribly glad. "Where is your brother?"

"It's a long story," Joe replied. "I'll fill you guys in on the way, but we're going to need backup."

"I've got – well, two good agents in the area," Youngman told him. "Where do we need to meet?"

"Schneider," Joe said suddenly. "He's sold out to the crooks. We can't count on him."

"Yeah," Youngman replied. "We already figured that one out. I didn't include him in the count."

"Frank and Meg are following one of the crooks," Joe explained. "He's a guy named Walt. We've never seen him before. He's not the head of the operation, though. We're hoping he'll lead Frank and Meg to whoever is."

"So you don't know where they're at?" Youngman guessed.

"Right," Joe confirmed. "But unless the boss is someone we don't know about, I'd say the town of Willowa Lake is our best bet."

"All right," Youngman replied. "I'll radio the other agents to meet us in town. I'm not going to be able to tell them why, though, since Adam will be listening."

As the agent went back to the entrance of the cave to be sure he would have radio reception, Joe asked Tony, "What's up with him? Or do all the FBI agents around here just naturally hate me?"

"Nah," Tony told him. "He's just not happy that Schneider sold out the Bureau to join up with the crooks. But what happened to you? Why didn't you go with Frank?"

"Well, I had a little accident," Joe said. He held up one of the traps from the pile. "Walt, the guy Frank and Meg are following, had a security system set up, and I put my foot in it."

Tony's eyes widened. "Are you sure you're okay? Don't those things sometimes snap people's feet right off?"

"That's just in movies," Joe told him. "See? They don't even have teeth. The worst they could do is break a bone or maybe cut off circulation if you didn't get out of it fast enough. I still wouldn't recommend stepping in one, though, if you can help it."

Youngman came back to the back of the cave. "They'll meet us in town. Let's get going."

"Yeah, that's kind of the problem," Joe said. "As I was just telling Tony, I stepped in a trap like one of these yesterday."

"Can you walk?" Youngman asked.

"A little," Joe told him. "Not very fast, though."

"Tony and I can help you along," Youngman said. "That's all the more reason why we should go right away."

As they went, with Joe alternately leaning on Tony's and Youngman's shoulders, each party brought the other up to date on what had happened to them.

"I'll bet Schneider wasn't bribed until early yesterday morning," Joe concluded. "The 'monster' must also be a diver. After Frank, Tony, and I started poking around, they must have decided to find out who we were. They must have dived during the storm night before last, disguised as the monster. That's what Elena Lonewolf must have seen. That would also explain the lights we saw out on the lake. They must have taken our luggage hoping to find something that would tell them who we were. Once they found out, by looking at Tony's ID in his wallet, they knew they had to do something desperate to keep both us and the FBI off the scent, so they bribed Schneider, who sounds like he could use the extra cash."

"But, Joe," Tony protested. "Why would have they needed to get ID's to know who we were? Everyone in town probably knows our names by now, and even if they didn't, what's my name going to tell them? I'm not a detective."

"You've helped Frank and me on several cases," Joe reminded him. "Any Internet search for your name would turn up information on that, and it wouldn't be hard for them to figure out who Frank and I are then. As for knowing our names, sure, a lot of people know our first names. But come on. Joe, Frank, Tony? There are millions of people with those names."

"That's true, Joe," Youngman said, "but why didn't this person just ask around? They could have found someone to tell them easily enough."

"Maybe," Joe conceded, "but maybe they couldn't ask for some reason. Maybe they don't have anyone who wouldn't be suspicious of them asking questions. At least, questions about other people."

"What are you getting at?" Tony asked. "You've got that look like you're onto something."

Joe nodded. "The perpetrator has to be someone who is so universally disliked in Willowa Lake and at the same time so disinterested in people that asking about us would be a suspicious break in character. It has to be someone with absolutely no allies they can trust except for Walt. There's only one person in town who fits that description."

* * *

Frank and Meg were careful not to make as little noise as possible as they followed Walt. It wasn't easy. He was taking them through areas without paths, and it was hard to get through the dense brush and keep Walt in sight without making noise. Every once in awhile, they would let a branch rustle and Walt would look over his shoulder. Fortunately, Frank and Meg managed to duck out of sight every time.

Eventually, as they had hoped and expected, Walt led them back to town by a different route than Frank and Joe had taken the day before. He went around town, out of sight from the buildings in the trees, and crept up to the backdoor of a small house on the outskirts of town.

"Whose house is that?" Frank whispered to Meg.

"Amber Hoelt's," Meg whispered back.

So Dr. Hoelt was the ringleader, Frank realized. He should have seen it. She fit perfectly. She'd worked diligently to convince people of that the lake monster was real, which in turn would keep their minds off of anything that might be related to her false identification operation. She could spend the summer working on the ID's, and then take them back to the city with her when she returned to teach in the fall.

With this in mind, Frank crept up to the house and cautiously peered into a window. No one was in that room.

"What are you doing?" Meg asked. She had followed him, but her face was deathly pale. "We should go get help."

"Right," Frank told her. "You go get help. Be careful who you choose, though. We know Schneider's in her pay, and there could be others."

"What are you going to do?" Meg shivered. "You're not going to try to go in there or anything, are you?"

"I'm just going to make sure they don't leave," Frank replied. "Now go."

Meg nodded and scurried off. Frank watched her go and then crept around to another window. He peered into it. This time he saw Dr. Hoelt and Walt inside, apparently arguing. The window was closed, though, and he couldn't hear what they were saying.

Frank sank down under the level of the window. He wished he could hear what was going on. He might learn something important.

A minute later, the backdoor opened and Walt came out. Frank was in plain view if the man looked to his side, but he held still anyway, desperately hoping he wouldn't be spotted. Luck seemed to be with him as Walt simply went straight ahead. Frank relaxed, but then his luck ran out. Walt had forgotten to close the door, and Dr. Hoelt stepped out to pull it closed. She looked straight at Frank.

"What's this?" she asked. "Walt!"

Walt came running back, drawing a fun as he did. He had evidently gotten a new one from Dr. Hoelt.

"Bring him inside," the professor ordered.

At gunpoint once again, Frank had no choice but to allow himself to be prodded into the house. As soon as he was inside, Dr. Hoelt drew the blinds. Then she folded her arms and looked at him.

"What are we going to do with him now?" Walt asked.

"Do the girl and your brother know where you are?" Dr. Hoelt directed the question at Frank.

Frank didn't reply. He was taking stock of his surroundings and trying to come up with a plan. Meg was going to get help, but there was no way of knowing how long that would take. Frank knew that the FBI agents were all out searching for him, Joe, and Meg, and Deputy Danver was probably with them. That meant that finding help could be difficult.

"You'd better answer," Walt insisted, holding his gun up significantly.

Taking a deep breath, Frank tried to decide whether to tell them yes or no. Telling them no might convince them to kill him immediately, but then telling them yes might cause them to move him. Then there would be no way for Meg or anyone else to figure our where he was.

"You have some operation here," Frank said, deciding the best course of action was to avoid the question altogether. "No one would think of looking in a sleepy, little town like this for the source of fake ID's. Do you sell them straight to criminals wanting a new identity or do you work with a middleman?"

"What difference does it make?" Dr. Hoelt asked. "It's all over now. We'll have to give up the whole operation."

"I'm still going to get my new identity, aren't I?" Walt sounded a little worried.

"Worry about that later," Dr. Hoelt replied. "We've got to figure out what to do with him."

"How did you rig up the monster?" Frank asked, trying to buy time for Meg to get back. "I saw the boots that you used to make the tracks, but what about the actual monster that Tony, Danny Welling, and Elena Lonewolf all saw?"

Walt grinned. "We could show him. How about it?"

Dr. Hoelt nodded. "We might as well."

They directed Frank down into the basement. When they got down there, Dr. Hoelt picked up a small device that looked like a remote control and pressed a button. Walt pushed Frank in front of a door and told him to open it. As he did, he had only a glimpse of teeth, claws, and scales as the monster of Willowa Lake sprang through the door and knocked him to the ground.

* * *

 _A/N: Thank you so much for reading, following, and reviewing! I would especially like to thank everyone who has left reviews: Cherylann Rivers, KDesai, max2013, Torchwood Cardiff, Caranath, Drumboy100, and Peyton._


	19. Shots Fired

Chapter XIX: Shots Fired

Debbie Clarke, Mike Severns, Deputy Danver, and Trevor Beau had already gathered at Danver's office in town when Joe arrived with Tony and Hunter Youngman. All four of them looked surprised when they saw Joe hobble in the doorway.

"You found them," Beau said. "At least, one of them."

"We know where the other two are," Youngman replied. "Or rather, Joe thinks that –"

He didn't get a chance to finish before the door swung open and Adam Schneider and Father Percy came inside. When he saw Joe, the color drained out of Schneider's face and he tried to bolt back out, but Father Percy was blocking the door. Youngman grabbed Schneider's arm.

"You piece of –" Youngman started to say, but he didn't seem to be able to think of any word that expressed what he thought of the treacherous agent.

"I think I missed something," Clarke said, her face registering her confusion.

"The scum's been bought off by the very people we're after," Youngman explained.

"Was it Dr. Hoelt?" Joe asked Schneider.

Schneider started at that. "Sounds like you already know all about it. I'm not saying anymore until I can talk to a lawyer."

"How could you?" Clarke growled through gritted teeth. "You – you –" She shook her head, words failing her.

"Lock him up with Cortney," Youngman told Danver. "We've got to catch Hoelt and the other guy."

"Cortney?" Joe asked. "Why's he under arrest?"

"I caught him breaking into the Wellings' house," Tony explained.

"That's weird," Joe said. "How does he fit into everything?"

Just then, Meg burst into the office. "Oh, you're here," she panted. "It's Amber Hoelt. Frank's keeping an eye on her house right now."

"Let's go," Youngman said.

As the agents left the office, Joe and Tony made a move to follow them.

"You'd better stay here," Severns told them.

Joe would have rather gone with them, but he didn't want to waste time by arguing. Reluctantly, he remained behind.

"Don't you think we could at least watch?" Tony asked. "We couldn't hurt anything from across the street and a few blocks down."

"Right," Joe agreed. "Let's go."

The two boys followed the agents at a discreet distance and stayed out of sight as they began closing in on a house on the outskirts of town. The agents had a brief discussion, and then Youngman and Severns went around the back. Clarke crouched behind a shrub in front of the house.

A minute or so passed. Suddenly there was a loud crash from behind the house, and Joe and Tony heard Youngman and Severns shouting. Then there were several shots fired. The front door flew open and Walt appeared in the doorway with a gun in his hand.

"Freeze!" Clarke shouted, pointing her gun at him.

Instead of freezing, Walt raised his own gun and fired. Clarke gasped and flung both her hands up to her shoulder as she rolled onto the ground. Walt started running straight toward where Joe and Tony were hiding.

"He's coming for us," Tony hissed, flattening himself against the side of the building.

"No, he's just coming in our direction," Joe said. "He doesn't know we're here. Let's tackle him."

"But he has a gun," Tony protested.

At that moment, Walt came running past and Joe lunged at him.

* * *

As the monster sprang through the door, Frank scrambled backward. The creature's flailing claw just barely missed him. After making its unsuccessful swing at Frank, the monster went back to its original position and then held absolutely still.

It took Frank's heart a few moments to start beating normally again. During that time, he got a chance to look at the "monster" more closely. It was exactly how Tony and Elena Lonewolf had described it – close to nine feet tall, green scales, claws, and huge eyes. There was one difference, though. It was fake.

"It's a puppet," Frank realized.

"Right," Dr. Hoelt replied. "It's the same kind of puppet they sometimes use in elaborate Broadway plays, with one major difference. It's completely collapsible. That way we could move from the scene of a monster sighting quickly."

"It's very realistic," Frank admitted. "Although I doubt the real Nettie would approve."

Dr. Hoelt rolled her eyes. "The idiots around here. There's no monster. Nothing has happened around here that wasn't caused by either us or nature."

"So you don't really care about preserving nature around here," Frank surmised. "Why did you lobby to turn this place into a state park, then?"

"There's no time for all of this," Walt protested. "Let's get rid of him and get out of here."

Dr. Hoelt nodded. "We'd better just kill him here and get out. No gunshots, though. No sense in alarming the neighbors."

Frank forced himself to stay calm. The help Meg had gone for should be there any minute, but even then he would be in danger. The agents would most likely surround the house, but they wouldn't be able to get inside right away. It was going to have to be up to Frank to save himself again.

He sized up his two captors quickly. Walt was armed and seemed impatient. Dr. Hoelt seemed like she was trying to look and act confident, but she wasn't used to this kind of thing. In that case, it was feasible that she could order someone to kill a person, but when it came right down to it, she wouldn't be able to do it herself. Besides, she didn't appear to be armed, anyway. That meant that Frank's priority now was to disarm Walt.

"You're right," Walt said to his boss. "A gun would be too loud."

He slipped his gun into his belt and drew a long knife. Frank braced himself. As long as Walt didn't try to throw the knife, he'd have to come close to Frank to use it. That would give Frank the chance he needed.

Walt stepped closer to Frank, who backed away. Frank now had his back to the monster puppet. He continued to back up until he was in the doorway.

"You can't go any farther," Walt taunted him.

Frank let the would-be killer come a few steps closer. Then he reached up, grabbed one of the monster's still-outstretched forepaws, and yanked, at the same time dodging out of the way himself. As he had supposed, the puppet wasn't heavy and it toppled right onto Walt who was too surprised to move in time.

At the same moment, there was a clatter at the top of the stairs as the door was pushed open. Two men stood in the open doorway, guns in hand.

"Freeze!" one of them shouted.

The puppet, which had moments before been a major detriment to Walt, now gave him cover. He wriggled underneath it into the storage room where it was kept and drew his gun once again. He fired two shots at the men at the top of the stairs.

Frank, not wanting to be caught in the crossfire, crawled behind a cabinet. However, it seemed that the newcomers realized there was a civilian in the room. At any rate, they did not return fire as they ducked behind either side of the doorway to the basement.

Dr. Hoelt looked wildly around as she tried to decide what to do. In an act of desperation, she rushed toward one of the high windows in the wall of the basement. The cabinet behind which Frank was hiding was directly under it, and she climbed on the cabinet to try to reach the window. Frank reached up from behind it and grabbed her ankle, pulling her back down. Once she was back on the floor, Frank was able to get a firm grip on both her arms. She struggled, but Frank didn't let go.

"Drop your gun and come out with your hands up!" one of the men shouted down from the top of the stairs.

There was no reply from behind the storage room door. From his vantage point, Frank saw it creak open a few inches, but no gun pointed out.

"Is there another way upstairs in that room?" Frank asked Dr. Hoelt.

"Yeah," she replied.

"He's already gone upstairs by another way!" Frank shouted.

"Are you all right down there?" one of the men asked.

Frank started to answer, but he was cut off by the sound of another gunshot. There was a sound of footsteps as one of the men ran toward the noise. The other remained a moment longer to ask Frank again if he was all right.

"Yeah," Frank replied. "I've got Dr. Hoelt."

Then the other agent ran off as well. With a sigh of resignation, Dr. Hoelt finally stopped struggling.

"I guess it is over now," she commented, sounding almost a little remorseful. Frank guessed that her remorse was probably due more to being caught and losing her substantial, but illegal income, than for the crimes she had committed and helped to commit.

"That's right," Frank told her. "It's all over now."

* * *

Joe hit Walt at the waist with a flying tackle. They rolled over into the street, and for a moment Walt looked like he didn't know what had hit him. Even so, it only took him a second to recover from his surprise. He'd kept hold of his gun and now he shoved it in Joe's face. Immediately, Joe grabbed the crook's wrist and pushed the barrel of the gun away from himself just as it fired.

Tony, seeing Joe tackle Walt, came running to help. Fortunately, he was not in the line of fire for the shot. He kicked Walt's gun-hand, and the crook lost his grip on his weapon. After a brief further struggle, Joe and Tony were able to subdue him. A moment later, Agent Severns arrived on the scene and handcuffed Walt.

"I could use some help over here!" Youngman shouted from in front of Dr. Hoelt's house.

Joe looked in his direction and saw him kneeling on the ground next to Clarke. He was pressing a handkerchief against her shoulder. Although Joe tried to run to help, the best he could do still was to limp. Tony arrived at Youngman's side faster.

"Keep holding pressure on her wound," Youngman told him. "I've got to go get the other prisoner."

Tony obeyed as Youngman ran back into the house. Joe reached Clarke's side a few seconds later. Behind him, he could here Severns radioing for a LifeFlight helicopter.

A few moments later, Youngman came back outside again with Dr. Hoelt in handcuffs. Frank followed right behind.

"What happened?" Frank asked when he saw Clarke lying on the ground.

"It's nothing," she said through gritted teeth.

"Yeah, well, tell that to the doctors once we get you to the hospital," Youngman told her.

"You okay, Frank?" Joe asked.

"Yeah," Frank replied. "I didn't think I was going to be for a minute there, though. How about you?"

"I didn't get a bullet in my face," Joe told him. "So, yeah, I'm good."

* * *

 _A/N: Thank you so much for reading, following, and reviewing! I would especially like to thank everyone who has left reviews: Cherylann Rivers, KDesai, max2013, Torchwood Cardiff, Caranath, Drumboy100, and Peyton._


	20. Homeward Bound

Chapter XX: Homeward Bound

"Your x-rays show no fractures," the doctor told Joe. "The swelling should go down in a few days and you'll be fine. You do need to stay off that foot until then. It doesn't look like you've been doing that."

"No, not exactly," Joe admitted. "So is that it? Am I good to go?"

"Yes," the doctor said. He handed Joe a pair of crutches. "You'll have to use these for when you absolutely have to move around."

Joe took the crutches and used them to walk out into the waiting room where Frank and Tony were waiting for him. It was the day after the capture of Amber Hoelt and her accomplice Walt. The boys had been flown from Willowa Lake to the nearby city of Spokane. The FBI had arranged for plane tickets to fly them back home to Bayport, but first they had stopped at the hospital to have Joe's ankle examined.

"What's the prognosis?" Tony asked. "Are you going to live?"

"I'm certainly not going to die of this," Joe replied. "It takes more than a steel trap to do Joe Hardy in."

"No cast," Frank put in, on a more serious note. "That's good news."

"Yeah," Joe told him. "The doc says I don't have any fractures and I'll be just fine in a few days." He made a face. "He also says I have to stay off my foot until then."

"Not a bad piece of advice," Frank replied.

"Well, what are we going to do until our flight leaves?" Tony asked. "We're not out of here until six tomorrow morning."

"I don't know why they had to book such an early flight," Joe commented. "They're the FBI; can't they get us on any flight they want?"

"I was thinking we could go see how Debbie Clarke is doing," Frank suggested.

"Why?" Tony asked. "I mean, it's tough she got shot and all, but it's not like she's any kind of a friend of ours."

"She might have heard something about whether Dr. Hoelt, Walt, or Jason Cortney have confessed yet," Frank pointed out. "I don't really want to go home without knowing how all the pieces fit together."

"That's different then," Joe replied. "Come on. Let's go."

It was visiting hours and they had no trouble getting directions to Clarke's room. When they reached it, they found that Agent Youngman was also there.

"Hey, guys," Youngman greeted them. "How's your foot, Joe?"

"I'll live," Joe told him, "and without a broken ankle, so I'm good. How are you doing, Agent Clarke?"

Clarke looked a little groggy, but she shrugged her uninjured shoulder. "The doctor says I'll be fine. I say I'd be fine if they'd just let me out of here."

Youngman shook his head. "Some things never change." His face took on a more serious expression and he added, "Thank goodness."

"I've told you before that Adam was worthless as an agent," Clarke said. "You should have listened to me."

"You've never said that before," Youngman replied. "You were just as shocked as the rest of us."

"Speaking of which," Frank interjected, "have you heard anything about how and why it all was done?"

"Yeah," Youngman said. "Everyone involved confessed to their part in the crime pretty fast, except Cortney. We were able to piece together most of his story from what the others said, though, and after he realized how much we knew, he filled us in on the missing details."

"How was Cortney involved?" Joe asked. "He doesn't seem to fit at all."

"I think it would be easiest to explain by beginning at the beginning," Youngman told him. "It all started when Amber Hoelt was a teenager. She came from a lower-class family and never thought she had much of a chance at going to college like she'd always wanted. She learned how to forge signatures and then eventually official government documents.

"She got away with her forgery for a long time, and made enough money from it to pay her way through college and then some. One summer, while she was still an undergrad, she came to Willowa Lake for a vacation. She realized it would be a perfect spot to set up some kind of illegal operation, but she didn't know just what.

"After her graduation, she came up with the idea of using her forging skills on a large scale. She bought a house in Willowa Lake and used it to forge identification papers which she then sold to criminals and illegal immigrants. That's where Walt came in. His last name is Greething, and he's a small-time crook who got in over his head when he killed a security guard during an attempted robbery. He didn't get the money, but he needed to get off the grid, so he went to Dr. Hoelt.

"Since he didn't have the money to pay for his new identity, Hoelt had him work for her in exchange for it. One of his jobs was taking copies of the records Hoelt kept for her work to their hiding place in that cabin. Like you guys guessed, that was a precaution in case she needed to destroy the originals.

"Then Jason Cortney started talking about his plan to open a tourist shop slash canoe and kayak rental business. As it turns out, he actually wasn't serious about the plan and was mainly using it to get money out of his sister's husband, Trevor Beau. So Beau's accusations against Cortney really did hold water.

"As far as Hoelt knew, though, Cortney was serious. One thing she couldn't afford was to have a bunch of tourists coming into the area. More people meant a better chance of someone accidentally stumbling on her secret operation. To keep that from happening, she decided to throw a wrench in everything by lobbying for the area to be made a state park and stirring up the townspeople into heated disagreement on what should be done.

"Her plan wasn't too far-fetched; her whole cover for being there was to study the monster. She had adopted that cover since she thought it would make her look crazy in the eyes of the townspeople and the thought that she was actually a criminal would never cross their minds. Her plan worked except for one bump – the same one she had run into before, namely Jason Cortney.

"Cortney didn't buy it that anyone could really be as crazy as Hoelt pretended to be and hold a job at a college. He did some checking into her and discovered that her whole monster-protecting persona was an act; when she was at the university, she showed no signs of having the same interests she displayed when she was in Willowa Lake. That piqued Cortney's interest.

"A couple weeks ago, Dan Welling told Cortney – someone he considered to be a friend – about some papers he found in an old cabin in the woods. Cortney told him to keep it quiet, which as Danny told us himself, is the reason he didn't tell his sister. By the way, Danny is conscious now and will be able to go home soon. Cortney also got him to show him where the cabin was.

"Once Cortney saw the papers, he knew exactly what was up and who was behind it. At first, he thought he could blackmail Dr. Hoelt. When he tried, the next thing he knew, he was attacked by the monster before the other attacks even happened. Cortney was too afraid to do anything about it, so he just kept quiet and hoped there wouldn't be any other attacks on him.

"Then Cortney let it slip that Danny Welling had seen the papers as well. Cortney had enough decency to try to warn Danny away by sending him a note, but he didn't give enough of an explanation for Danny to take it seriously. Danny thought about leaving, but he didn't do anything about it.

"Then the storm happened and knocked the bridge and phone lines out. It also caused Trevor Beau's boat to capsize. People were already talking about the monster, and Hoelt decided it was a perfect opportunity to bring it to life. For her plan to work, there had to be actual attacks. If you have a nice, non-dangerous monster, you'll only attract tourists, not scare them away. But on the other hand, if you have an ominously dangerous monster, things will be different. Right or wrong, that was how Hoelt had it figured.

"She killed two birds with one stone when she had Greething use the monster puppet to attack Danny. All the puppet could do was knock him out while Greething did the rest of the beating, but that was enough. She didn't care whether Danny lived or died as long as his attack or disappearance was blamed on the monster and he didn't talk about what he'd seen at the cabin.

"At the same time, she used an electronic jammer to make a passing plane crash – your plane, of course. She also made spooky lights appear on the lake. All of this was meant to frighten people about the monster all the more. In actuality, the attacks on Danny and your plane were her fatal mistakes.

"The attack on Danny brought in the FBI. When she learned that she had both the FBI and a trio of accomplished amateur detectives investigating the strange occurrences, she found herself pushed into a corner. She got a break when she – bribed Adam Schneider to keep the investigation off course. However, that plan didn't work out for long, and I think you already know the rest."

"All except for one thing," Tony said. "Why did Jason Cortney break into the Wellings' house?"

"Oh, right," Youngman replied. "Elena Lonewolf had told him earlier about her theory that Meg Welling had gotten into trouble at that cabin in the woods. He knew even better than Lonewolf just how good a chance there was of that. He thought of the note that he'd handwritten to Danny Welling and realized that, if we found it, he might get blamed for everything. He was trying to steal it back before we could."

Frank nodded. "It sounds like that about wraps it all up."

"Did Dr. Hoelt sign that confession?" Joe asked. "And was everything you told us about on it? Especially the part about the electronic jammer?"

"Of course she did," Youngman told him. "It's standard procedure. Why?"

"I was just hoping that our insurance company covers electronic jammers and that we have airtight proof that we weren't responsible for the crash," Joe explained. "Otherwise, Frank and I are going to be paying Dad back for that plane for the rest of our lives."

"I could help you out on that one," Tony volunteered.

"Thanks, but there's no point in setting it up that your descendants for three generations to come will have to be paying into Dad's estate," Joe replied.

Frank shook his head with a grin. "Come on, guys. We'll worry about the plane when we get home. Right now, let's get home."

"Yeah," Joe said. "A nice, monster-free Bayport sounds good to me right now."

Tony snorted. "If it's not monsters, then you guys will find some other mystery in Bayport. You always do."

* * *

 _A/N: Thank you so much for reading_ Legend of Willowa Lake _! I would like to especially thank all of my reviewers:_ _Cherylann Rivers, KDesai, max2013, Torchwood Cardiff, Caranath, Drumboy100, and Peyton._


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